Second Chances Come Wrapped in Barb Wire
by Codywolf
Summary: So, life didn't go as she had planned it, but Colonel Carolyn Williams regrets none of it. Even if her current job is cleaning up after a bunch of trigger-happy Rangers and giant alien robots.
1. Hate Is A Strong Word

_This story has been inspired three fantastic ladies who dragged me to the movies to see Transformers 3. I owe all I am writting right here to them. A special thanks the real E. for sharing her unending knowledge of Transformers with me and gently nudging me the right direction. Finally, I do not own Transformers and never will. This takes a little different spin on the original plot. Everything stands the same up until the end of the third movie. After that...well...lets just say life gets a little bit more interesting. Thanks to all the readers for taking the time to look this "thing" over. Give it some time, it will become something. _

_Read and enjoy! Codywolf_

"Come on, Kara!"

"Let's go, slow poke!"

"We don't have all summer!"

The insistent honking outside brought a frown to the young woman's face as she listened to the voice from the phone pressed to her ear. She waved to the man sitting on her couch then nodded to the front door. He nodded and moved outside and the noise disappeared.

"I'm sorry, sir. You were saying," she grabbed a pen and an envelope from nearby. "Really? Okay. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

She paused as the man came back in, moving to her side and reading the envelope her pen was tapping against, a frown coming to his face.

"I will, sir. Thank you for this opportunity. I won't let you down, sir. Bye, sir," she placed the phone back in the cradle and looked down at the envelope. "It's happening, Dad. I made it."

"You're gonna have to tell them," Dad wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"I know…..they're gonna hate me," she folded up the envelope and stuffed it into her purse, scoping up the duffel bag off the floor. Dad grabbed a set of keys off the counter.

"They won't hate you, hon. Take old Thunder. I sent your friends ahead," Dad gave her a hug.

"Thanks, Dad," she smiled, hugging him back before rushing out. If you had told Carolyn Marie Williams, or Kara, as she climbed into the old Dodge out front that by the time set her best friend would be her worst enemy, she would've laughed in your face before decking you for even hinting that her best friend was going to hate her for more than six hours. Of course, six hours later, she wouldn't be laughing anymore.

"You what?" Erika Ann Nettles, or Captain, hissed, glaring at her best friend as she threw a piece of wood onto the fire. Kara looked up, her eyes filled with hurt.

"I got accepted. I leave in three weeks. I could have been made to ship out tomorrow, but I've been accepted into officer training," Kara looked at the other two sitting around the fire. It was a Friday and the four friends from Wisconsin were planning on enjoying a long weekend at the beach and drive-in movies. Well, that was the plan. Not anymore, not after the huge news Kara had just dropped on them.

"Um…" Emily Naomi Tokamura, or Em, glanced between her two friends. Kara was the newest to the group, having only been with them since sixth grade, but she was their rock, the gang's center. She kept them out of trouble and on the ground. What was going to happen if she was halfway across the country?

"Good for you, Kara, but is that really what you want?" Amanda Charlotte Michaels, or Scotty, frowned, trying to mediate. She, Captain, and Em had been friends since kindergarten. They could read each other like a book, but then this new girl showed up in sixth grade and suddenly their lives were changed forever. Forgotten dreams and dashed hopes were realized. Scotty was headed out to Hollywood at the end of August to start an intership beneath a famous photographer. Em was headed to Madison to start studying to become a doctor. Captain had her first book about to be published in a few months. They all thought Kara was going to go to the local tech school to get a mechanics degree, not go play GI Jane.

"Yeah, I do. It's a good thing for me, "Kara sat back in her chair, watching Captain.

"A good thing? Last I checked a good thing wasn't getting yourself blown up for a blind man's war!" Captain snapped.

"Really? We're starting this again?" Kara snapped right back. Em and Scotty would have backed down, never wanting to go a round with the Captain. Kara didn't care most days. "Go sing your tunes to someone who cares, Erika. I need to support my dad, not the other way round. This is going to bring me good money, dead or alive."

"There are plenty of other SAFE jobs right around here you can do and still make good money!" Captain snapped back. Kara was getting serious when she started using first names.

"They aren't going to be enough! Look, your daddy and mommy are always gonna be there to give you a little extra pocket money or a "get well" present," Kara gestured towards the nice shiny Mustang convertible sitting next to the old Dodge. "The rest of us have to work for what we get!"

"Guys, how about we go swimming? I hear Troy's gonna be at the party tonight," Em watched the two friends, worry etched into her thin, geeky features.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea!" Scotty jumped up. "I'll bring my camera!"

"Yeah, Cap, Troy. Number what? Three?" Kara stood, moving to the Dodge. Em and Scotty froze as Captain's face paled.

"What?"

"You heard me. I'm going home. The Colonel had said something about an earlier class. Have a good summer," Kara climbed in. Troy was the high school's quarterback and local dreamboat. Kara had had a crush on him for years. Unfortunately for her, she had walked in on Erika having a little fun with him. Neither had noticed, but Kara had felt betrayed. She had spent the last three years of her life going to school, working at her dad's shop or bailing Erika out of jail after her parents paid off her latest fine for protesting. Enough was enough. She'd had to do this for her mom till she had finally gotten caught jacking some richies car and Kara had finally been able to live with her dad. She wasn't going to go through this again.

"Kara, stop! Nothing happened!" Captain raced after her as Kara started up her truck.

"Nothing happened, my ass. I saw you two! Have fun with the rest of your life," Kara shot her a glare before racing out of the campsite. Captain stood there for a few minutes before flopping down into her chair, glaring at the fire.

"Aren't you going after her?" Em moved closer.

"If she's not back by the morning. Kara and her temper tantrums," Erika huffed. Em looked at Scotty. Scotty shrugged. None of them noticed the asteroid race across the sky just above their heads. Kara did as she blinked back tears, racing home. A shooting star was what she thought and she wished on it. She wished with all her heart for something good to come out of all of this. Something that would turn her entire life around.

_**None of the girls that night realized that what had just transpired set their fates down a path they could now not turn back from. All they thought was that they would never be friends again. None of them saw the true meaning. None of them saw that they were now racing towards their true destinies. None of them ever thought they would save the world with a little help from some new best friends….their cars. **_


	2. Just When Things Were Looking So Good

_******Erika******_

"Hey," some guy sat down next to Erika as she looked over her Lit notes. This was not what she needed right now. She was two years into a Journalism degree, just a little side job to cover what her books wouldn't. Her parents had finally put their foot down when Erika had been arrested and put in jail for six months. She had to do something with her life, not be angry and take it out on everyone else...or her car. Her parents had taken her keys after she crashed the fourth car in sixth months. Yes, they were rich but they weren't stupid. Erika was mad at life. Her best friend had turned on her, going and serving the government. Her other friends were off, going places with their lives while Erika sat at home, going to dinner parties and protesting outside courthouses.

"Hello," Erika glanced at him and sighed. Not another one. Somehow the main anti-government group on campus had found out about her less than graceful few years in the limelight. After some intense therapy via email from Amanda and Emily, Erika had turned away from her more outspoken habits and decided to protest in softer ways. Hence the Journalism. Her books were more opinionated, using fictional characters to say what she chose to write. Of course, it had only taken her peers two years to figure her out. Her agent had promised her secret was safe with her, that E. A. Sparrow was keeping the public eye away from the twenty-year-old college student who was the current blogger for the school newspaper.

"So, some of us are getting together and heading down to admin to let our views be heard by our lovely politcally-lacking leader of our fine state. You in?" the guy smiled sweetly at her. His hair was long and pulled back in a ponytail and Erika cold pick the hint of some drug on his clothes. Yay, another stoner fouling her people.

"Look, I love how your being all hippy and stuff, but you have to understand that what you are doing is wrong. Peaceful protests speak better for your organization than you tomato throwing followers," Erika snapped.

"Come on, girl! We really need you! Don't you want our soldiers home here with us?" the guy pleaded and Erika's eyes hardened. Oh, that was a soft spot with here. Wrong cause.

"Yes, I would, but I have a friend who happens to be a soldier and you drawing eyes here instead of where she is could very well kill her," Erika slammed her book shut as she stood. "Good day. I can't wait to kill your group tonight on my blog."

Yes, she was mad at Carolyn for abandoning them three years ago, but she now understood why. Her dad had been able to move out of his trailer home and into a real house. He'd finally gotten a new car. He'd updated his shop. All because Carolyn had gone and done something with her life. As Erika stalked back to her dorm all she could think about was her friend over seas and hoped she'd come home safe and sound to Erika could apologize.

_***Amanda***_

So, today wasn't her day. Not at all! First, the humane society had refused to let her have a photoshoot there. Then, her car had broken down in the middle of a busy highway outside of Hollywood. Then, her boss had called, reminding her that tonight she had to be at the reception hall early to set up. Then, there was this. Some government people had tried to blow up Mission City. And it was the government because the government was saying it was the government. Nothing else had been said, probably working on their story. That wasn't bothering her. What was bothering her was that she had to go find another city near Hoover Dam who had a hotel big enough to fit 50 models, 10 camera men and all of their staff and then another, fancier hotel for her, her boss, and their staff. Yup, life was just peachy. She needed to vent.

"Hello?"

"Erika?"

"Who else would it be? The Great Pumpkin?"

"Have you seen the news?"

"Ah, what happened this time?"

"I had the whole crew booked to stay there! That was the only city with in a resonable distance I could get everyone into!"

"Stupid government...again."

"And to make things worse, I have to find two new hotels within three days or I get fired! Can you believe it? They idiotic, glaikit, egotistical basterds! dinnae thay realize some o' us huv tae wirk tae survive! 'n' dinnae git me stairted oan mah gaffer! he thinks th' world revolves aroond his giant boaby!"

"Scotty?"

"Aye?"

"You're doing it again. Going Scottish on me."

"Och! Sorry, Captain."

"You had better be. Call Em."

*_***Emily***_

Emily could only stare at the tv, just like the rest of the students gathered in the main lecture hall. They had been learning the proper way to preform heart surgery on a patient with a history of heart murmers when an all call had been made. Turn on the school's main news station. What they hadn't been expecting to see was smoke floating out of Mission City. Rumors of aliens attacking the city, U.S. soldiers seen fighting giant robots and blackouts filled the speakers as the proffesor flipped through channels. Students opened their emails and cellphones, contacting friends and parents for answers. Emily could only stare. She knew something none of them did. Those soldiers weren't just any soldiers. Carolyn's squad was stationed there on leave for two weeks before being shipped over seas. This couldn't be happening. Carolyn was there. This was not happening.

Emily's phone started to vibrate. A Scottish dity. Scotty," Yeah?"

"Have you seen the news? Here, three way. Captain, I got her!"

"Em! Can you believe it?"

"Guys," Emily stood, staring at the screen as familiar brown hair appeared, carrying out a crying child. "Guys, Carolyn's there."

"WHAT?"

_***Carolyn***_

She was tired, dirty and not about to give up. She didn't have to be here, none of them did, but none of them could just sit back when it was their own brothers in trouble. And of course, it was an all boy squad. She could feel their eyes on her now as she took the crying child from their Captain. Captain Carolyn Williams shot the man a glare before walking away,"Brady, jacket!"

"Yes, sir!" One of her own men threw her his jacket and she wrapped it around the little girl, shushing her quietly. Had to be no more than 4 years old. Didn't they see the girl's dead mother only feet away? No, of course not.

"Cap, your cell's ringing," Jeff came over, their comms man. Carolyn had ordered all her men to turn over all their phones to him, keeping them focused on clearing the city.

"Who's it from?"

"Your dad."

"On what phone?"

"Work."

"I'll take it," Carolyn sighed, taking it. Only that man could get to her in the middle of a war zone. "Yeah, Dad?"

"You alright?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Em just called, said you were on the telli."

"TV, Dad. I'm fine. Me and the guys just came out to help clean up the mess. Let Em know I'm fine and will send her an email as soon as I have time."

"Okay, be safe."

"Always," Carolyn smiled before handing the phone back to Jeff. "He says to kick the ass of the next Ranger who looks at mine the wrong way."

"With pleasure," Jeff and Brady laughed as they got back to work. Carolyn looked down at the little girl. She was silent, snuggled close, sucking her thumb.

"Lets go find you some friends," hopefully she was lucky and had some left.


	3. Only in Paradise

_***Carolyn***_

_Carolyn,_

_Hope life is going well for you. Its been a while since I've heard anything and the others are starting to really hound on me. I know you really don't want to talk to us, but the occasional helllo would be alright. Let us know how you're doing, where you've recently been blown up, that sort of stuff._

_I can at least keep up one side of this conversation. I know I saw you sneaking around my graduation. Did you dye your hair? I swear it was you, but your hair was white and it looked like you've been to the beach...a lot. So you probably already know my big news, but I graduated top of my class. Now you have to address me as Doctor Tokamura. HA! Of course, you're a Major so I don't know who has the higher ranking. Probably you._

_What you don't know is that I've accepted a job out in Honolulu. Its part of a disaster relief group. I'll be working part time at Queens in the city and then part time out at HQ, ready for anything. If I'm good enough, in a few years I'll be given my own emergency vehicle. I'm sooooo excited!_

_Amanda has finally gotten her own business and it sure is flourishing! She just called to let me know she is going to be the main photographer at the Miami Fashion Show. Can you believe it?_

_Erika is about to release another book and her blog is huge. I bet you have to read it for whatever you do, just because. _

_Whatever you're up to, I hope you're having fun. Be safe, Kara,_

_Em_

She read the email again, smiling a little this time. Emily had made it her duty to send her emails once every two weeks for the past six months, just letting her know what the others were doing. Carolyn knew she was trying to get them all connected again, but that was a long time from happening. It wasn't that she didn't want it to happen. It was just that at the moment she was in the middle of a giant training exercise/new squad transfer. And by giant she ment giant alien robots who transformed into cars and other vehicles. All she wanted to do was tell Em about the rescue hummer, Ratchet, who she found absolutely hillarious or her personal favorite, Ironhide. There was something about big guns that just got her excited. Of course, there was her new commanding officer, Colonel Will Lennox. He was different and the captain she had rubbed the wrong way in Mission City. At least she had Brady, Jeff and Daniel with her. They definitly were helping getting the others to accept a girl. She had come in handy on a couple missions. The couple missions she had been allowed off base for. Most of the time she was left behind, as a mechanic or up in the command center.

Maybe...maybe she would reply to the next one.

_***Emily***_

The sights and sounds assailed her as she raced through the city on her bike. Right now, this was the best mode of transportation she could afford and she didn't care. She enjoyed smelling the salty air all the time. It was new, it was refreshing and it felt like home to her. She was doing something she loved in a place she was falling in love with. Today was the start of a two week vacation and she was currently on her way to the airport to meet Erika and Amanda. What better way to spend a two week vaca then with your two best friends? Emily couldn't think of one. Well she could, but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. The others thought she was crazy, but she didn't care. One of these days Carolyn was going to email her back and she was going to rub it in their faces.

Her pocket started to vibrate and she frowned. Were they already here? She pulled into a parking spot at the airstrip and pulled out her smartphone. No, an email. An email? Emily's heart raced as she opened it and a smile crossed her face. Finally, after a year and a half, her patience was finally paying off.

_Hey Em,_

_Long time no talk. I figured it was about time I answered one of your billions of emails. My friends were starting to get annoyed with me and threatened to write one themselves, so I kinda had to do it._

_I'm still a Major, but its in the works for another promotion. I just don't see it happening anytime soon. My new squad had kinda fallen into a rythym and I think a promotion would mess it up. _

_I would love to tell you all the places I've seen, but my current squad placement has taken away that right. I can tell you I was recently in Egypt. I got an even better tan now, much to the amusement of my squad. You wanna explain to me how I end up being one of two girls in a group of about 120 men? And they make us all live together on one base! At least that leaves plenty of options for me. _

_I'm happy to hear all of you are doing so well, just keep an eye out for danger. You have no idea where it could come from._

_Oh, and now my commanding officer is reading this. Colonel Will Lennox says hi and no I will not ask for a picture for Epps! Sorry, the guy is insane. You wouldn't believe how egotistical he is and commanding and pushy and bossy. Between him and the other colonel, the rules are enforced. _

_Well, now Epps needs to get a look at his daily dose of porn so I have to go. Have fun in Hawaii and say hi to the others._

_Kara_

Ok, this vacation just got better!

_***Erika and Amanda***_

"I love being my own boss!" Amanda squealed as they strolled through the airport. "I can take vacations whenever I want!"

"Hon, I am on vacation all the time," Erika smirked, adjusting her sunglasses. "This is going to totally help with my next book!"

"Can you beleive this is where Em works?" Amanda ran to a window, looking outside at the amazing view of the setting sun over the ocean.

"No, I can not! That girl has all the luck!" Erika joined her. Neither noticed the girl sneaking up on them till lais were thrown around their necks.

"Alo-ha, chikas!" Emily laughed as she pulled them into hugs. "Welcome to Hawaii, ladies!"

"Oh, dear! I know that smile," Erika held Emily away at an armslength. "Wow, are you tan!"

"What have you been scheming?" Amanda laughed, picking up her bags and wrapping an arm around each friend.

"You won't believe who emailed me today?" Emily was practically bouncing.

"Who? The President?" Erika scoffed.

"Better!"

"Who could be better?"

"NO! She did?" Amanda squealed, catching on.

"She did!"

"Who?" Erika turned to her friends, confused.

"CAROLYN!"


	4. The Ups and Downs of Life

_***Carolyn***_

It had been a bad week, a bad month overall. It was as though all the Decepticons and politicans had had a secret powwow and decided that this month they were going to work together on giving all the NEXT opperatives hell. She had spent the better part of two weeks with Will argueing it out with senators and the Sec Def over the need to move the base out of the middle of Washington D.C. No one would listen! They thought that the Autobots would be within easy reach and better able to protect them in the middle of a highly populated area. Then, the Decpticons, what was left of them anyways, had popped up, just causing general mayhem. It was enough to piss her off, which was too much. Will was taking it alright, as was Epps and the others, but they weren't the ones forced into short dresses and mini skirts in Russia! Of course, Mirage, or Ragi as she called him, went everywhere with her, having making it his duty to keep her safe. He was a new one, recently joined, but the red Ferrari was a spunky little guy. No one really noticed, but she did. He was the way he was for a reason. Kinda reminded her of Erika. Trying to live one life but wanting to be apart of another.

The worst part of this last mission was that communications between them and the rest of NEXT had been jammed. They had gone twenty-four hours without a single word from anyone. Twenty-four hours had been too long. At hour two, the Decepticons had attacked and from then on, she and Ragi had been on the run. On the run in the middle of Africa in a shiney red Ferrari. On the run in the middle of Africa with white hair, a very tight tank top and very short shorts. Not her favorite mission by far. She had come out looking the better of the two. She had been afraid that last hour, cornered with Blackout and Barricade closing in. Ragi had done all he could to keep her out of the fight, but that didn't last long. He would've been dead and she didn't want to think where she would be if Bumblebee and Prowl hadn't shown up when they did. Ironhide and Will had met them at the airbase just as they had been towed in. She had spent two nights under Ratchet's care, making sure her bones were setting right and her concussion gone before being released. As of an hour ago, Ragi had yet to wake up from a forced recharge. Ratchet had said he wouldn't wake him up until the next morning. That left her twelve hours, 23 minutes, and 34 seconds of waiting. 33 seconds now. Okay, not allowed to look at her watch for at least five minutes.

Strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her onto her bed as someone sat next to her. She leaned against the body, heat soaking into her frozen skin. Steady yet soft hands gently rubbed her shoulders, working the kinks out. She sighed, falling into the touch. She was still too worked up from the mission to sleep, to relax. It felt like so was he. She felt his warm hand pull her chin up and felt his lips press into hers and just let her mind go blank. She didn't care anymore. She needed a break.

_***Erika***_

A movie. They wanted to do a movie on her newest book, _Da Nile, Mystery on the River. _A love story between a female navy officer and a civilian journalist during a time of unrest and civil war in Egypt. Inspired...by a dream. She didn't know the occupations of the characters in her dream, but she didn't need to. She could work off what had been given to her. But they wanted to make a movie out of it. She stared at the letter, unsure what to do. She wanted to make sure it was real, actually real. They wanted E. A. Sparrow to write a screen play for her book. She would be allowed to view as much of the filming as she wanted. She would have a say in the casting. She would have a say in locations. She would a have a say in everything and in return get a nice big fat check at the end of it all. They wanted to create a movie off her book. She couldn't believe it!

Everything was going great! The last month had been great. She'd made some friends in Ontario and her garden was in bloom. Her truck had died and her agent had gone out and bought her an early birthday present, a brand spanking new truck. She'd dated a little and finally finished fixing up her cabin. Her blog was getting even more attention, her books were selling at an alltime high. Her upcoming book was highly antisipated. Her friends were going to be visiting soon and Carolyn had sent her a short message to her huge amounts of emails. She hadn't sounded happy, but she had replied. Yup, life was going good. She didn't care anymore. She was ready for anything.

_***Emily***_

A hurricane. A freaking hurricane! They hadn't even finished cleaning up after the volcano and now they had an incoming hurricane. This week was really crappy. The entire month was crappy. Her hummer had been delayed, getting updated even more, so she was still riding with Steve. They'd had two volcano eruptions and were on their second hurricane this month. A couple mild tropical storms. And whoever wanted to say she couldn't call it a hurricane could go kiss her ass! She was going to call the big ass storm over the ocean with a swirling pattern a hurricane! She couldn't wait to go visit Erika. It sounded like things were going well with her. She hadn't heard anything from Carolyn all month except a little note saying she was going to be busy for a while. She hadn't been very positive on hearing from her ever again, actually.

Oh, then some dumbass had run her bike over at work. Some new guy on a cellphone. Yup, after she had yelled at him for a good hour, the boss had kicked him out. Any guy or gal who could not focus on their driving did not need to be apart of the group. At least she could look forward to working full time here now. Today was her last day at the hospital. She had seen one of the nurses with a cake earlier. Maybe things were going to get better soon. She didn't care. She needed time to herself.

_***Amanda***_

Life loved her! She hadn't had such a good month in forever! Her photos were selling everywhere. Her phone had been ringing off the hook from models, celebrities with upcoming weddings, presidential campaingns, foriegn rulers, everyone wanted her to take their picture! Her gallery was pulling in a lot of money, her car had finally been replaced. The best part was moving into her own apartment building. It was currently being renovated. The bottom floor is going to be her studio, her own studio! And the upstairs is going to be her penthouse. All she was waiting for was the okay to go pick up her sweet little Gracie from the breeders. Oh, she loved life!

She had men at her door every day, taking her out to eat or to clubs or games or movie premires. Erika had gotten her onto the set of her movie, taking all the pictures and helping with advertising. She and Emily were going to be heading to Erika's soon for a few weeks of girl time. What more could a girl ask for? Oh, yeah, her own fashion line! That's right, her line was being officially revealed this weekend at the local fashion show. She already had orders! She didn't care. She was on top of the world!


	5. From the Ashes

_***Erika***_

It was raining the day they buried Teddy Williams. They all had been invited and all of them had turned up. Carolyn had been silent the entire time, not saying a word. Two men had been with her, one she assumed was her superior officer, Colonel Will Lenox. The other...maybe a teammate? She didn't know and she figured Carolyn wasn't going to tell. Em and Scotty were standing with her and their parents, umbrellas up as the casket was slowly lowered into the ground. Slowly, the crowd gathered moved back to their cars, stopping front of Carolyn to give their condolences. Everyone in town knew Teddy. Everyone went to his shop when their car broke down, when the tractor wouldn't start, when the lawnmower died. Mikey could fix it all, had been able to fix it all. It was strange, really, how he had died. She didn't think Teddy had been that old, maybe fifty tops. He had been a chipper guy, always willing to help where ever needed. He was super safe in his garage. So then why had he had a heartattack? They would probably never know. She knew Carolyn had been living with a druggie mom for a while, but she didn't think Teddy would do drugs. She hoped everything would be alright for her friend...if she could call her a friend.

Erika glanced at the others and nodded before moving forward. It was still raining, but she could tell Carolyn was not going to be leaving here anytime soon.

_***Emily***_

She didn't think Carolyn had cried at the few days she had been home. If anything, she looked sick and tired. She'd gone over to the house a couple times, just to make sure her friend was ok. She had been the only one. Carolyn had introduced her to Colonel Will Lennox, who asked her to just call her Will, and Ragi Milton, her partner on her squad. Ragi had stayed at Carolyn's side, looking very worried, not letting her get up to do anything but go to her room and use the bathroom. Carolyn didn't seem to care. The only times Ragi left her side was to talk to Will, and then both would look worried. Something was going on, something that her friend either did not want to talk about or couldn't talk about. It worried her. Had her friend gotten in too deep on a mission? Gotten her own father killed? She didn't know, but she didn't think Carolyn would be sharing anytime soon.

"I'm sorry, Em," Carolyn's voice was soft. "I'm really sorry. For everything."

"Don't be," Emily frowned.

"I still can be."

_***Amanda***_

She hated seeing people in pain, absolutly hated it. She hated it when she had to take pictures of people in pain, hated it. What she hated more, though, was knowing someone was in pain and not seeing it. That's what she was seeing in Carolyn as they moved across the cemetary. She could see Carolyn was struggling to keep the mask on, but it was holding as she watched people throw flowers into the grave. Her father's grave. Teddy had been all she had and now he was gone. Maybe the men with her would step up, maybe not. She didn't know. She could tell the one man, the man with a protective arm around her shoulder, the man with what felt like an English air about him, was greatly worried about her. The other man, her superior officer, was concered for her. Maybe they could take care of her. Maybe. She didn't know, but she could only hope.

"Carolyn," Amanda moved forward, pulling her old friend into a hug. "I'm so sorry."

"So am I," she felt a tear slid down Carolyn's cheek.

"Don't be, dear," Amanda pulled away. "You know that he wouldn't want you to."

"I know," Carolyn forced a smile. "Thanks, all of you, for coming. He would be happy to know we were all together again."

"Can we make this a regular thing? Like meet up somewhere other than a graveyard?" Erika moved forward, pulling Carolyn into a hug, but it was awkward. Both girls still were hurting.

"Ah..." Carolyn glanced at the men beside her. "No...I'm a little busy at the moment. Maybe in a few years or so."

"Saving the world? Sacrificing your life?" Erika pulled away. "Your father just died and you're still thinking about work?"

"My father understood what I was doing. He knew that no matter what happened, I have to stay focused on my current assignment. I'm sorry, but I took an oath and I'm not going to break this one," Carolyn's eyes grew hard and it suddenly struck Amanda that Carolyn was no longer the girl who worked in her dad's shop after school. She was now a trained cold-blooded killer and they would either have to accept it or not. She didn't know what to do, but she was going to try to know this new person.

_***Carolyn***_

She watched her friends walk away and it didn't hurt. She knew she should feel bad, but she didn't. There were now more important things to worry about. Her hand fell to her belly instinctivly as Ragi led her and Will back to his alt mode,"You should be resting."

"I needed to be here, Ragi, and it will be a few months before this will put me officially on the sidelines," she smiled a little. "Didn't you listen to Ratchet?"

She had started getting sick a few weeks after Africa. Just early morning stuff, nothing she worried about. She just figured it was a cold or something. They worked with colds all the time. But then she threw up during a training run and she grew worried. She was starting to get motion sickness and Will and Ragi were getting on her back. She took the test in secret, when she knew everyone else was in meetings. What she saw threw her for a loop. She'd sat in her bathroom, just staring at it, till Will had broken down her door. He had taken one look at the test and carried her to the infirmary. Ratchet had run a dozen different tests and they had all come back the same.

She was pregnant.

Ragi had been confused, doing his own scans, doing research, asking too many questions. Will had been silent, one hand on his face as he stared off into space. Ratchet was busy trying to explain a time line to Optimus. Herself...she was trying to figure out how to tell her dad she was going to have a baby and the father was unknown. Well, she knew the father, but she and Ratchet had agreed it would be best if that was kept secret. He understood, at least a little bit.

"I need to go see my father."

And go see her father she did. She went and saw him in a casket. Heartattack was the official diagnosis. She knew better. Will and Ragi had come along for protection and to make sure the others weren't caught hunting down the little bugger who had killed Teddy Williams. He would never know he was going to be a granddaddy and that his grandson would be named after him? It would be an easy pregnancy, nothing too hard. Ah, the joys of alien technology. She just wished her dad would be there, for at least support. Thats all she wanted and it wasn't going to happen. Why had they gone after her dad?

"They found this in his office," Will handed her a tablet, a blueprint on the screen. "Someone forgot to mention they had hired your dad to build an Allspark."

"I want to finish it," she skimmed over the information. "I can build it. I can finish it."

"But will it not stress you out?" Ragi helped her into the passenger seat while Will climbed into the driver's.

"It will, but I'm sure Ratchet will want to help. He'll keep an eye on me. It gets me out of the hot seat," she smiled as Ragi disappeared and the Ferrari roared to life. She saw her friends' heads turn towards them. "Lets get back to base. This isn't going to be easy."


	6. New Life is Born

_***Carolyn***_

"Why did you not tell them?" Carolyn jumped at the closeness of Ratchet's voice behind her. She was sitting at her new desk, specially made to take in the bump on her belly. She was working on improving her father's formula for creating a new Allspark. It was possible, that she and Ratchet had agreed on. The only problem was doing that without anyone ever doing it before. There was too many variables to take into account. Another problem was the risk of damaging Ratchet but he refused to leave her side after being attacked by all of the autobots when they found out she was pregnant. Most of them were confused, Mirage was worried, and Optimus wanted to know how this affected her work abilities. Ratchet had had to run interference for her, which she was grateful for. She didn't think she could explain childbirth to a whole group of autobots.

"I did not tell them because I didn't have to," she turned to him, one hand resting on her swollen belly. It was almost time, they both knew it, but she refused to stop working. Mirage had cleared out a room nearby and converted it into a living space for her for the time being and then there was enough space to put in stuff for Teddy when he came around.

"But they deserved to know. They are the closest thing you have to a family now," Ratchet frowned, in holoform to make it easier to help her, whatever was needed.

"No, you guys are my family now," she smiled, standing and crossing over to him, resting a hand on his shoulder. Whether it was the hormones or her brain rewiring itself to handle a child, but she had gotten a little more emotional. Very much so to the horror of the guys on base who had known her as the "Warrior Princess" for the past six years or so. "A messed up, all male family, but you are still my family. I wouldn't ask for anything else for a support group right now."

"Does this have anything to do with your country's view on single woman with children and the father unknown?"

"Yes, it does a little. If I was out there, I would probably be all alone right now and not working. Here, you guys don't judge me the same way others would have. And you let me work," she gave his arm another squeeze before turning back to her desk. She stopped, resting her hands on a nearby table as something shifted inside of her.

"Carolyn? Are you alright?" she heard Ratchet shift as his desk.

"No...I think its time," she glanced down at the floor beneath her. Yup it was time.

"Time for what?" Damn it, Ratchet! At times he could be as clueless as the others.

"The baby. Teddy...he's coming," she couldn't believe it. It was time.

"Oh...OH!" Ratchet rushed to her side, taking her arm. "The room is all set up. I've called the others and they are on their way back to base."

Oh, no. Autobots...at a birth of a child...this was not going to end well at all.

_***Will***_

He thought he would be the bad one about pacing outside the infirmary, seeing as Ratchet wouldn't let anyone in. But no, Optimus was coming in a close second to Mirage. The spy had formed a unique connected with the female soldier and whenever she went out into the field, even to go shopping, he went with. He'd taken to going around in holoform the closer it came to the due date. It was more of an older brother concern there, but it was still concern all the same. Every time he stopped by the door, Will would swear Ragi, as Carolyn had fondly dubbed him, was scanning. Will wished he could do that. Since they had gotten back from the cut short training mission, it had been complete silence in the halls except for quickly passed words or the sound of feet pacing. It worried him. He hadn't been there for Sarah, but he knew that no birth should be silent. But silent it had been.

"Something is wrong," Ragi's paniced whisper broke the silence as he stood infront of the door. He and Optimus moved to the spy's side.

"What do you mean?" Will frowned.

"Her blood pressure is elevated, she has a fever, and her sweat gland production is very high," Optimus frowned. "Is this normal?"

"Did none of you pay attention to Ratchet?" Ironhide growled from his seat on the floor behind them. "He said it would be painful."

"It's normal, Rag. Its alright," Will rested a hand on Ragi's shoulder a high pitched cry of pain reached their ears through the walls. Ragi flinched, his holoform flickering. Will just laughed. "Its the birth, not an enemy. Relax, all of you. This is normal."

"Will, would you come in here," Ratchet poked his head out the door, dressed in scrubs. "I can not give Carolyn a hand to squeeze at the moment and you are the only one who has any experience that this. I fear Ragi would panic, Optimus would be too serious and Ironhide would not be helpful."

"Ratchet!" Carolyn's cry of pain drew the doctor back into the room. Will shrugged at the others and rushed in, closing the door firmly behind him. Carolyn lay on a bed, covered in sweat, her normally neat braid falling to pieces. Will quickly moved to her side, letting her take his hand while Ratchet moved into position.

"You know, this is rather exciting. This is the first birth I have ever done," Ratchet was being too cheerful and Carolyn did not like it.

"Ratchet, shut up!" she hissed closing her eyes. "Last one!"

* * *

><p>Will slowly opened the door, poking his head out, smiling at the worried faces as all who were gathered outside stood," She's gonna be just fine, guys. Broke my hand, but she'll be fine. Ratchet wants her to rest right now, but she really wanted you to see this."<p>

He moved farther out into the hallway, revealing the silent little blue bundle in his arms," Say hello to Theodore Alexander Williams, the newest member of our family."

Ragi cautiously moved forward, looking down at the silent little face, awe and amazement filling his face. Will held the bundle out,"Teddy wants to see his uncle."

"Uncle?" Ragi frowned, carefully taking the bundle.

"Uncle," Will smiled. "He wants to see all his uncles and brothers."

"Not too long," Ratchet came out, looking a little shell shocked. "He needs to be under observation for at least twenty four hours to make sure he stays healthy."

"How was it, Doc?" Ironhide smirked, trying not to laugh at his squadmates' amazement. The little tyke was no where near as cute Annabelle.

"It was a new experience," Ratchet smiled shakily. "I am already cataloging it for future references. I must go make sure she is doing well."

"Ragi and I will bring him back in," Will gently pushed the spy after Ratchet. Carolyn was stretched out on the bed now, her eyes closed, her breathing evening out. Ratchet pointed to a crib next to the bed for Teddy before moving to Carolyn's side.

"I'm fine, Ratchet," she sounded tired and Will was once again amazed by her strength as she forced her eyes open, smiling up at him and Ragi. "How's my little boy?"

"He is...beautiful," Ragi forced out and Will silently agreed. The little guy was something to behold. Maybe this was the start of some brighter times for all of them.


	7. The Calm Before the Storm

_***Carolyn***_

All was quiet in the lab and she liked it that way. Ratchet was off checking on the others, Ragi was out actually training, Will had been dragged off by Optimus to a meeting and Bumblebee was off with Sam in Carly. The lab was all hers and she liked it that way. It had better stay that way for a long time because she needed to finish this calculation or it would bother her for a week. Just a few more minutes, please!

It was very rare now for her to have a day like this. Between Ratchet pestering her with what she gave him to do, Will and Optimus wanting updates, Bumblebee just wanting to hang, Ironhide wanting a new training partner, Mirage's constant state of alertness, Sam and Carly stopping in or little Teddy wanting attention, she very rarely had time to herself just to work on the new Allspark. She was getting so close, they had already started constructing the basic frame for it. It was just getting what Cybertonian tech and Earth tech they had to work together, which right now was kicking her butt.

"Mama!" a high pitched, familiar voice screeched behind her as she finished the problem. She sighed, rubbing her forehead before putting on a smile and turning around.

"How's my little boy?" she laughed, taking the wiggling little boy from a flustered Ratchet. "What have you been doing?"

"Carly said that you're almost out of diapers and that he should be ready for bed soon," he sighed, flopping down into his seat. The only times now that he used his holoform were when he was in the lab or handling Teddy. She required all the autobots to be in holoform around Teddy unless she was around or someone else was already with him and all safety's on in the base at all times. There was a whole long list she had written up and updated posted in the mess and it was given out to all new NEST members along with the handbook. The base had turned kinda into one big family and at the moment, they were running at the highest level they ever had. Yes, the guys upstairs didn't like the way things were being done here, but they weren't going to make them change it with the numbers that were coming back and the possiblity of it getting out. You didn't want a little boy just learning to talk out in public right? Especially when his best friends were giant alien robots.

"Okay. Can you watch him for an hour or so. I need to get some other stuff anyway," she stood, heading out of the lab. Ratchet sighed and flickered out of existence. His true form came on line, the same look on his face as she followed her out into the main garage.

"Do I have to?" he was whining again. He needed a recharge. Gosh, she was becoming a mom all over the place!

"Ratchet, you do realize you're sounding like a little toddler, right?" Epps laughed from where he was sitting by Ironhide, cleaning up some spare equipment. He normally was out with the wreckers, doing who knows what, but sometimes he would hangout at base. "Kara gonna tuck you before Teddy?"

"What?" Ratchet rounded on him, but she cut in.

"Ratchet, go recharge. Epps, can you watch Teddy while I go shopping?" she gave him a wink Ratchet couldn't see.

"Sure thing! Come on, little guy, you know you like Uncle Epps better than Uncle Ratchet cause Uncle Epps lets you play with guns," Epps took him happily. Epps did love hanging out with the little boy. Maybe a bad influence, but a protective bad influence who had a healthy fear of mommy. She turned, expecting to see Ragi waiting but found Prowl instead.

"Where's my normal carriage?" she frowned, searching the garage for the familiar red Ferrari. No sign on him.

"Optimus refuses to let him leave the meeting to go with you, so you're stuck with me. He says he's sorry," Prowl popped his driver's door open.

"Alright. Be glad I don't have to take Teddy with or I would be dragging Ironhide along instead."

"WHAT!"

_***Erika***_

_Vvvvrrrrrr!_

"Yes, Luna, it is beautiful out! Oh! Luna! Not the butterfly!" she sighed, watching the little grey streak chase after the innocent little blue insect. Well, hopefully it had had a good life. She turned back to her laptop, getting back to her newest book. Just closing it up now. One last chapter. Does the heroine live to marry her one true love? Or does she die? Does no one save her as she falls off the cliff at the end of chapter 37? That was the real question, one she had to answer. One that she was struggling with. She'd had this series going since she first started writing and people loved it, but maybe it was time to end it. It did have twelve books. Maybe she'd be cruel and end at thirteen. Yes! She had it!

_Her screams echoed off the canyon walls, the air rushing out of her lungs as the rocky bottom raced up to meet. All hope was gone. Everyone else was dead, her friends, her family, the one person who would have been able to save her. Yes, she had won in the end, but was it worth it. Her eyes focused on the rocks below and a sense of acceptance flowed over her. Maybe it was her time to go. Maybe she had run her race. Maybe it was time for a new hero to take her place._

_"Not yet!" a voice cried and it felt like she had slammed into a rock wall. As her vision cleared and she looked, expecting to see the blue, cloudless sky. Not the smooth, finely chiseled face holding two blue orbs and a light red rose. The rose opened, a light, crystal sound coming out. A laugh, a free, joyous laugh. "You are one crazy earthling!"_

She sat back smiling. Yup, did she know how to end them or what? "Luna! Come help mommy finish this story!"

_Vvvvrrrrrrrrr!_

_***Emily***_

The steady thump of the bass echoed out over the beach and into the water. The swaying bodies kept time, laughing filling the air alongside the loud music. Now, this was a way to celebrate! Yes, it was celebrating the birth of five little puppies, but it was five little puppies born to a mother who had rode out a hurricane in her dog house. Yup, when they needed to loosen up, her coworkers did it the right way. A few beers, plenty of food, loud music and good friends to keep you up when the last month's trials finally catch up to you. Right now, she was sitting back in a lawn chair next to the other senior officers of the group. Yup, after being with the group about four years made her a senior. Most came for a year or two then moved on. She didn't plan on leaving for a long time. And if she had to go, she was going to come back someday and finish what she had started. They were going nationwide, connecting up with other such groups to form a national organization. Now, they had equipment set up for someone, one of the seniors and a group of the froshies, to go and help anywhere in the U.S.

She took a sip of her wine cooler and laughed as some of the newbies tried to dunk Mitchie, another senior. The guy looked Tarzan without the loinclothe and long hair. He always had a laugh for any of those who came in, but could get deadly serious when it was needed. Right now, the newbies were ending up in the water, completely drunk, while Mitchie just stood there and laughed. Yup, another wonderful night in paradise. Just what she needed. She looked out over the ocean as the sun set and couldn't help but feel like something was coming, just waiting beyond the horizon. Just waiting for people to get complaciant. Just waiting to strike.

_***Amanda***_

"Come on, guys! We have five seconds to clean up! They're gonna be here any minute!" she yelled at her crew as they raced around, putting away photo equipment and showing the models out. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, for once no camera around her neck, a small box in her hands. She couldn't wait! It was almost time. She glanced at her watch and giggled a little as she moved to her back door. Any second now! She fiddled with the box, so excited.

The soft tinkling of her back door bell caught her attention. She squealed and threw the door open,"YAY! Come in! Come in!"

The startled delivery boy froze, clutching the animal carrier to his chest. She laughed and pulled him in,"I have been waiting FOREVER for this! Now, I know I don't owe anything, but here's a tip for delivering her so efficently!"

The boy took the envelope and the dish of cookies, gave her one more wierd look, and left. She didn't care. All she wanted right now was what was inside the cage. A happy little yapping reached her ears and she quickly knelt next to it, opening the box,"Hey, Gracie! You like what mommy got for you? A nice shiney new collar! I got it specailly mad just for my little girl."

The yapping got louder, more excited," Alright, alright! I'll let you out!"

The door flew open and a little Scottish Terrier came racing out, jumping all over her. She slipped the collar around the puppies neck, smiling brightly.

"I love you, Gracie! Yes, you are pretty! Oh so pretty!"


	8. The Sky is Falling

_***Erika***_

Oh, yes! They were finally leaving! The world would finally be at peace! Her blog was at its highest view rate since she had first started, readers adding their words to her's about how excited they were that the autobots were finally leaving. Words of joy mixed in with her more calmer versions. All her readers saw was what they wanted to see, not what she was really trying to say. Yes, the autobots were leaving, but why weren't the Decepticons leaving as well? It was like what George Lucas was trying to portray in the first three _Star Wars _movies. There can only be evil if there is good and only good if there is evil. If there was no good to battle the evil, many would suffer. Then, the good would come back and would not be trusted because so many bad thoughts had been sowed into the minds of the victims. The autobots should have been allowed to take their evil twins with, given time to hunt them down and drag them off Earth. But no, they were rushed, sent away before they could rid her home planet of the real plague. It was like shutting down Iron Man before he could take out the terrorists. They could very well be playing into the enemy's hands for all they knew.

Luna was huddled in her lap, focused on her pop can while she watched the televised launch. Yes, she was happy to see them leave, but she also know that with every action there could be a very fatal reaction. Things could very well turn around, the Decepticons could chase after the Autobots, but they could also stay and enslave the entire Earth. Anything was possible now. Too many variables to calculate in. Too many characters in play.

The cameraman's focus moved from the giant aircraft to a black streak in the sky. She heard the anchor say something about there being more when the aircraft blew up. Flames filled the air...the autobots were in the flames. Were burning up. Somewhere, in her frozen brain, she saw the signs. It was only the start. That small ball of flames was only the start of a larger fire. A fire that could consume the entire planet. The sky was falling, burning up the world.

_***Amanda***_

She badly wanted to be at the launch, had called a half dozen agencies, but no press was allowed to document the launch. Only government sponsered cameracrews. It was unfair, really. She needed to make money and this would be a huge payday. She didn't have just herself to support, she had Gracie and family back home counting on her. What about her sisters still in college? Her widowed mother? Her brother about to get married? She had to pay for some of that, had promised to and she never broke a promise. She also had her entire crew to pay. She currently was paying for an entire apartment building right next to her penthouse to house all of her employees and any family they had. Look at Lisa. She was a single mom of three who's husband had walked out after six years of a happy marriage to go make babies with a "hotter" model. Lisa was as good as a model could get and so natural it screamed "love me!" and she loved that. Or Marco, father of twin toddlers with a wife battling cancer. She didn't hire these people for the publicity. She hired them because they were the most human should could find.

"Boss, its starting!" Cheryl nudged her, pointing to the screen. She hugged Gracie close, leaning forward as the aircraft leapt into the air. So beautiful and no one was capturing it. This hurt her, hurt her crew. She could tell, could see it in their faces. They loved this work almost as much as she did, understood how it fed her. They all watched, wide eyed, as the spacecraft climbed higher. Marco was the one who pointed out the black streak racing across the sky nearby.

"I thought they were shutting down the airspace."

The unasked question was soon answered as the black streak slammed into the spacecraft, erupting both into flames. The red and yellow and orange hues filled the screen, dancing a deadly dance on their eyes as it fell back to the the launch pad, crushing all hopes for all of them. The sky was falling and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

_***Emily***_

Surrounded by friends, she knew that this would be the biggest day of their lives. All the disastor vehicles were prepped, ready to go. They had been warned by the government that this could end with the Decepticons attacking all over the world and they would be needed if that happened. Her personal hummer was already on a ship, ready to head to the mainland at the first call in. For now, they waited, the big screen filled with the autobots spacecraft. She knew, somewhere out there, her friends were watching the same thing. Were thinking different things, but all coming down to one thought. This could very well be the end of the world. Amanda would want to be there, to capture it to share with others, to show them what she felt, what her crew felt. Erika's blog said it all, but no one was listening. She knew the danger, knew it all too well. Ignore the signs...and the world would fall to pieces. Carolyn...she could only guess what Carolyn felt. She probably knew what it felt like to be forced from a place you loved. She would be watching and cursing the basterds who were doing this. She knew all of them would want to be together right now, but couldn't. It would take some time, but they would be together again. A little spark of hope in a dark hour.

She gasped as the rocket launched into the air. Rachele looked away, tears in her eyes. She was from Mission City, had been saved by the autobots once. Not directly, but she still thanked them. Mitchie wrapped his arms around her, his own tears falling down his cheeks. None of them were afraid to show how they truely felt here. This was the one safe place for all of them, their haven in a storm.

She watched as the rocket climbed higher, drawing more sobs those around her. Only she caught the black streak in the sky, only she cried a warning. They all saw it hit, though. They all cried out as the screen burst into flames. They cried together as it fell back to Earth, grabbing keys and gear. Saying quick goodbyes as they rushed to their posts. It was time for them to take up the mantel. None of them would let the other down today. The sky was falling and they were going to try to catch it before it did too much damage.

_***Carolyn***_

Her world was ending, crashing down around her. The main bay was a rush of soldiers...but only soldiers. The autobots sat in a circle in the middle, waiting. She wanted...no, needed to go to them, but could not will her feet forward. This spot, right here, was holding everything back. If she crossed that invisible line infront of her, she would be accepting that this was happening, that part of her family was leaving. That her son's friends were leaving. That her job could be going down the drain. She liked it right here. Right here, everything was still fine. It was as though there was a barrier between her and the real world and she knew it would have to break soon.

"Mommy," a tiny hand tugged at her'd and she looked down at Teddy. "I wanna go Ragi!"

"Ok," she forced a smile, not wanting to alarm her son. For being almost two, he was far more advanced than he should be. She let go of his hand, letting him run ahead, jumping on Ragi before he realized the little boy was there. She slowly followed, collecting herself. She saw Will sitting next to Optimus. This must be hurting him so much. First Ironhide killed by Sentinal, then all the autobots being forced to leave. Ragi passed Teddy over to Prowl and turned to her as she stopped by his side, her hands shoved in her pockets, looking down. She didn't want to look at him. If she didn't look, she wouldn't cry. A warm, metal finger touched her chin, forching it up, making her look up into Mirage's eyes. She always called them eyes, they would always be eyes to her. Eyes that were turning blurry. She blinked, jerking her chin away and wiping her eyes," Sorry."

"Don't be," Ragi easily lifted her up into his lap, letting her lean against him, perched on his crossed legs. "We still have a few hours. We don't have to say goodbye yet."

"It hurts, Ragi, but I don't want to worry Teddy," she felt someone move to sit next to her and an arm wrapped around her.

"Prowl and Brain have him occupied," Will pulled her close, blinking back his own tears as Optimus and Ratchet moved to block the others off. "We have a little time. Lets enjoy it."

"Okay," she rested her head on Will's shoulder, one hand resting on Ragi's hand, wishing that these next few hours would never end.

* * *

><p>She sat in her room, Teddy sitting on the floor by her feet, watching the launch. A box of tissues was perched on her lap. Being a mom really did a job on how your brain was wired. She watched as the engines fired and the giant aircraft raced into the air. She could see the black SUVs parked a safe distance away and wondered how they were dealing with everything. Those last few hours she would never forget, surrounded by her friends, her family. Teddy had fallen asleep and Brains had dropped him off in the room, so it was the whole crew at the end, minus Hide. Hide's remains were staying here, getting prepped to be put with Jazz's.<p>

She didn't notice Teddy get up and waddle out of the room as a black streak raced towards the giant aircraft. She didn't notice him push open the door as the black streak crashed in the giant aircraft. She didn't feel herself stand up as the screen was filled with flames. She didn't hear herself scream as the giant flaming ball fell back to the Earth. She did feel the tears slid down her cheeks as the screen went blank. She did hear Teddy yell,"Momma! Shiney!"

She felt her feet move on their own accord, moving out into the hallway, heading towards the lab. She heard her sobs echo through the empty complex as she reached the door to the lad. She heard them be choked off as she looked inside to see Teddy reaching for the half finished Allspark. She heard herself scream as Teddy's tiny little hand touched the Allspark. She felt the sky fall on her and there was nothing to do but...

_"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_


	9. Chicago is Burning

_***Carolyn***_

All around her was a burning city. Burning bodies, burning cars, burning buildings, burning everything, but she didn't noticed as they raced through the slowly clearing streets. They had to find the others, had to! They were going to be okay, they were going to be a live, just like the TV showed. For once in her life, the press would be telling the whole truth, not just what they wanted.

They raced around the corner into a main gathering area and there they were. All together, leaning on each other for support, but together. Looking like shit and a couple limbs were missing, but they were all there. All the autobots were there. Will was there. Epps was there. Sam was there, Carly held tightly in his arms. Ragi was helping Ratchet hook Optimus' arm back on. Prowl was leaning against Bumblebee. She didn't notice the giant corpses on the bridge or the bodies lying not that far away, all she saw them. All she saw was every little bandage, drop of blood, bead of sweat, missing part, leaking energon line there was, not the surprised looks towards her and her entourage. She forgot about the box sitting in the passenger seat, glowing a little as the little boy in her lap started to bounce widely on her already bruised legs.

"Mommy! Mommy! Wagi and Powl! Wagi and Powl! Go, Wide! Go!" Teddy shrieked and she smiled, actually smiled, as she jumped out of the truck and raced to the surprised Will, who was looking past her. Teddy wrapped his arms around Will's neck as she gave him a brief hug and rushed over to Ragi.

"Are you alright?" she looked him over, about to move to get her toolbox when Ragi grabbed her, stopping her.

"H-hide?" he looked down at her, confusion and surprise on his face and she realized she had missed one key reason she was here.

"The Allspark works," she squirmed out of his grasp and ran back to the truck as a car pulled up alongside it. She climbed in, grabbing the glowing box. "It needed a connection with a living being for some reason. Teddy touched it and it just came to life!"

"Jazz," Optimus pushed the stunned Ratchet away, moving to his comrade's side as both newly arrived autobots transformed. "How?"

"Well, from what I got from her babbling, they tested it, and in they I mean her and the sparkling, on Ironhide," Jazz shrugged. "He came back, so they had him break into the safe they had me locked up in and revived me."

"We just have to be careful with what it touches," she moved over by them, the box held like a bomb in her hands. "The case is holding in the energy, but if it touches a dead Cybertonian, it will revive them. Even a shard of it will work, just like the old one."

"So we can make sparklings now?" Ratchet plopped down next to her as the others moved over.

"Kinda," she glanced at Will and Teddy. "I'll explain in a more secure location. For now, we get you guys better."

They all smiled down at her. She didn't care that they could save their civilization. She had her family all back.

Chicago burned all around her and she didn't even notice.

_***Erika***_

**_Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existance. –William Blake_**

**_We, as a whole, have ignored the necessary evils in our lives. We let emotions rule our minds and only saw what we wanted to see. We all believed what was told us by those we saw as more knowledgeable. We let our choices become the choices of others, choosing to sit back and watch the world go by. How can we say we tried to save our planet when truly we tried to kill it only a day ago? We all live in different states, provinces, countries, continents, but we all share the same planet. We choose to let its well being rest in a select few who were privy to the secrets she held tightly to. We did not think to ask the serious questions, wonder why they were going through the steps they were? Why did they dance such a different dance in private than the one they danced to the public?_**

**_As some of you have guessed, I am speaking of the Autobots. We allowed the U.S. government have control of beings we should not have even sought to control. They could have easily wiped us out, but did not and in return we enslaved them. We forced to them to hide from us, feared them like the animals they clearly are not. Then, we tried to force them from the place they had wanted to call home, a claim they had every right to, just as we do. Yes, they look greatly different from us, but in many ways they are the same. They have the ability to think for themselves, to produce emotions, to die. They choose to trick us, to save us from what we had turned a blind eye to. They risked their lives for ours, died so that we would not be enslaved by the Decepticons. Would animals do such a thing?_**

**_The answer is no. Animals would not band together to save our sorry skins. But the Autobots did and for that we should be thankful._**

**_Right now, as many of you are reading this, the United Nations is convening to discuss what to do with the Autobots. Send them away now that the Decepticon threat is gone or let them stay. I say, give them all the rights of a being living on planet Earth. Do not shun them, force them off the planet or into hiding. Let them live as they wish to live. If THEY choose to live in hiding, then they can. But maybe they would like live amoung us, interact with us. We already know they can change into vehicles. It would be a time of learning for us and them._**

**_Many of you are now confused by what I have been writing. Has E. A. Sparrow finally lost it? No, I have not. From the very beginning I knew that there was more to Mission City than a government training exercise gone wrong. We took something from the Autobots and the Decepticons. The Decepticons choose to react with violence while the Autobots choose to negotiate for whatever we took. They have never ment us harm and if you have been hurt because of one of them, think back to the incident. What was really going on at the time? Who else was there? Was the Autobot fighting another being?_**

**_I know you are still confused. I have entire blog series about why Autobots are bad and I still stand by it, because at the time they were. The facts given to me were what I laid out for you and then my opinions on the situation. I have stated many times and have it clearly posted in bold lettering on my website that my opinions are my opinions and are clearly stated in my blogs. The facts are for you to interpret. My opinions are for you to analyze and decide if you agree with. I have laid out the reasoning for my new opinions. Are you going to use your own mind and make up your own or go along with the crazy author you have never ment or seen._**

**_I hope to God that you make up your own mind, because if I had to make up everyone's mind for them, I would be exhausted._**

**_To finish this, I would like to offer a formal apology to all the Autobots and those brave men and women who risk their lives working with them. I have wrongly accused you of crimes that you did not commit. I challenge your existence, I believed you were the real evil in the world when really, you were the good in disguise. To the Autobots, I hope that we may be able to form a lasting relationship of equals with you. To the men and women working with the Autobots, though we don't know who you are, we know why you do it and we thank you….or at least I do. You saw what the rest of us could not. You have been blessed with such insight and I hope the rest of us come close to the same conclusions you have._**

**_10-4 for now,_**

**_E. A. Sparrow_**

She sat back, staring at the screen, the arrow resting over the submit button. Yes, she was satisfied with it. Not many people can admit fault publicly and she believed that she had phrased her's well. She knew she would not always agree with hopefully what would be their new allies, but she understood them now. She glanced at the TV, muted for the time. Smoke still rose from the Chicago skyline. Yes, it was time for a little more trust around here.

She hit the submit button as Chicago burned, in the hopes of a brighter future.


	10. Hope Among the Embers

_***Amanda***_

She stood on the precise, looking out over Chicago's burning remains and felt like she was going to be sick. Not all of Chicago looked like this, but the majority of the downtown did and she was only through half of it. Her crew moved around her, snapping pictures and stopping to provide aid to anyone they found. They marked bodies for pick up and took pictures all the while. None went unaffected. Tears streaked down their dust covered faces. They constantly stopped, sitting down, head in hands trying to collect themselves. They were among three other groups selected to document the carnage. Two camera crews also wandered the rubble, one going where ever, the other following a rescue squad. Another group of photographers was following another rescue group. None of them got in the way of the clean up crews and they stayed clear of where the autobots had set up camp. One thing they had all agreed on was to keep the names of the men and women involved secret, which ment no pictures. Better to be called lazy than condemn an innocent soul.

She moved forward, checking on her people as she went. They were close to their next rest spot, so they were pushing ahead. Check under an upturned car here, peek inside a building here, spray the broken door to let the rescue crews knew bodies were inside. Freeze as you start to turn away. Yes, there it was again! Rush inside the building, moving towards the noise. There, a young woman huddled in a corner, shaking uncontrollably. Move slowly towards her, speaking softly. Saying you wanted to help her, say you have food and water and medical aid was on the way. Pull a blanket out of your pack and carefully wrap it around her. Help her take small sips from the canteen. Get her name, where she lived, little details. Distract her from her coworkers' bodies only feet away. Pray the medics get here soon.

The medics do and they take over, thanking you softly as they carry her out. Another saved among the thousands dead. Another soul spared among the millions. You move on, though, just so that you can save another soul. Just so that there can be some hope out of all of this.

You meet up with your crew at the rest stop. Out of the fifteen with, three found two people each and six others found one. The other six were involved in a huge rescue, getting a bus load of kids and parents and teachers out of the flipped vehicle. Only ten dead out of forty. 25 percent though it may be, its better than the rest of them. Get something eat, make sure everyone else drinks and eats, get any cuts looked at, check on the other rescue missions all over the city. They finally have word back on the UN's meeting. The autobots can stay if they want, with all the rights of a citizen of where they chose to live. In return, the autobots are out, injured though they be, helping with the searches. Two have showed up to help them. A yellow guy who likes to play random lyrics and a loud, pot-bellied guy. The searching goes faster, more people are found thanks to their technology. The yellow guy stays close to her, sensing she is in charge. He becomes fascinated with her camera, making the crew laugh as he tries to take a picture of a rescued little girl, getting some giggles out of her. Marcus finds her teddy bear and more pictures are taken. Her mother is brought in, more pictures and promises of them being emailed to the mother.

Yes, Chicago burns around them, but there is still some hope in the world. The flames can be put out and things rebuilt. Bodies will be buried, but the relationships forged today and in the upcoming days will stand through anything thrown their way, even in the pits of hell.

_***Emily***_

To say getting here had been easy would be a lie. Her hummer had been blown up by a left over decepticon. Luckily, she hadn't been in it. For some reason, the decepticon had just blown it up, out of nowhere. The soldiers with her had easily blown up the decepticon, but now she was down her hummer and supplies. Mitchie had been nearby and picked her up. Now she worked out of his truck, slowly making their way through the streets. Right now they were on call from the camera crews. They would radio in to the main post with a location as soon as one of them was open, they would head out and relieve the crewmen. It had been a hard couple days, but now they were getting help from the autobots. Finally completely fixed and official now citizens of Earth, they were ready to help where ever needed. She hadn't seen any yet, but she knew it was only a matter of time. She was currently working her way down into a collapsed building, Mitchie hanging onto the rope up top. They'd picked up a weak life sign from the heat sensors. Mitchie was too big, so she got to go in, past all the bodies in what was once an apartment building, hoping to find at least one living person.

"Em, you should be close. See anything?" Mitchie spoke over the headset connecting them. She scanned the darkness, her light falling on a little dog sitting watching her.

"I've got a dog," it was better than nothing. "Going for it. Give me some slack."

"Got it, boss lady," Mitchie did as he was told and she crawled over to the dog.

"Hey, bud, lets get you out of here," she smiled, reaching for it. The dog whimpered and wiggled away, towards the back of the room. "No, fella, other way."

He yapped at her, pawing at an over turned bed. She frowned, moving forwards,"Mitch, any other life signs here?"

"I've got you moving, I think the dog…and maybe one other. Hard to tell, the room next door is on fire."

"I think I have another here. Standby," she crawled to the bed and gently lifted it up. A little boy huddled underneath, his back to her. "Mitchie, I got a little boy!"

"He alive?" Mitchie sounded a little desperate. They had just gotten done searching a daycare. No survivors. She knew exactly what he wanted, she wanted it to.

"Checking now," She lifted the bed up and pushed it away, quickly moving to the boy's side. "Kiddo? You with me?"

A soft whimper answered her and she breathed a sigh of relief. The boy turned to her, his face grimy and tear-streaked. He held his hands up to her and she pulled him close. He couldn't be older than four," He's alive, Mitchie. He's alive."

She looked him over. He was thin, definitely undernourished. His right leg was badly bruised and he refused to let her touch it,"Either broke or fractured leg. Hey, honey, I need to take care of it or it will hurt a whole lot more."

He whimpered again and her heart broke, but she knew that if she didn't splint it now, it could get a whole lot worse on the way out," I know, its scary. Can you be brave for me?"

Something nudged her side and she looked to see the dog," Is this your dog?"

The boy looked and nodded, smiling a little,"Okay, then I'll make you a deal. If you let me take care of your leg, I'll make sure you and your dog stay together when we get out of here. And a huge sucker. Sound good?"

The boy nodded, reaching for the dog. She leaned him up against the wall, letting the dog climb into the boy's lap as she focused on the leg. Both boy and dog whimpered as she set it, but she made it quick. She pulled a sucker out of her pack," Now, this isn't the big one I promised, but it will hold you up till I get one. Ready to go?"

The boy nodded and she lifted the dog off his lap, securing him in her pack before lifting the boy up. She moved back out into the huge hole in the middle of the building and looked up,"Think you can lift all of us?"

"Yeah, got some more help now. One dog, one lady and one boy, top floor coming up."

"Very funny, Mitchie," she shook her head as her harness tightened and they moved upwards. As they reached the top, a large, metal hand reached down and gently grabbed hold of them, lifting them the rest of the way. The boy whimpered and buried his head in her shoulder as their rescuer came into view. A giant autobot was kneeling by Mitchie, setting them down carefully,"How badly is the child hurt?"

"Bad," she nodded, getting past her own surprise. "We need to get him back."

"Jules just called, business complex. A lot of wounded. They have some autobots, but she needs another smaller hand," Mitchie frowned, unsure of what to do.

"I will take…Em and the child back. You go to Jules," the autobot nodded, transforming into what looked like a much more beaten up version of her old ride.

"Oh, that's just funny," Mitchie chuckled as he climbed into his truck. "See ya tonight, boss lady."

"See ya," she waved him off before getting in the back of the hummer. The doors closed on their own accord and the hummer rolled forward as she set the boy on a stretcher. A drawer opened next to her, revealing a box of very large suckers.

"You owe the child a large sucker, do you not?"

"Yeah," she laughed, taking one and handing it to the boy before setting the dog on his lap.

"Why did your friend think my vehicle was funny?"

"My ride here looked like it, but it was blown up a couple days ago by a decepticon. Kinda explains why," she shrugged. "I'm Emily Tokamura, but most everybody calls me Em."

"I am Ratchet. I am what you call a medic for my team, so I can be of some service to you and the others."

Around them, Chicago burned, but inside the hummer, it felt safe and for the first time in days, she relaxed. Hope looked back at her in the form of a little boy and his dog and she didn't mind one bit.


	11. Third Time's the Charm

_***Carolyn***_

She was covered in grim, sweat and some blood, but she was feeling good. It had been a while since she had fixed anything with her hands or blown something up. They kept her locked up in her lab with Ratchet, which she believed to be part of the cause of her current insanity. Now, she was out. Yes, it was in the middle of the ruins of what had been Downtown Chicago, but at least it was semi-fresh air for her. Most of the autobots were fixed and out helping with the rescue operations. She was being kept back at base, keeping an eye on those who were a little bit too damaged still. Optimus was in a forced recharge, forcing Ratchet to shut him down when he tried to go out with Will and Hide to secure the bodies of the main decepticons. She had just finished up some minor work on him, saving Ratchet from it when he came back from a turn with a rescue squad. She turned to Ragi, who was trying to slink away,"Oh, no! Get back here now!"

"Ratchet said I was fine," he froze, trembling a little. He never liked getting doctored. She picked up her toolbox and came to stand by him, resting a hand on his leg.

"I know he did, but that was by his standards. And his standards were for keeping you together till this place is cleaned up. Do you want to go out and help?" she smiled up at him.

"Yeah….fine," he huffed, sitting back down. Her smiled grew and she crawled onto him, quickly setting to work. She was so focused that she didn't notice Hide and Will pull back in, a very familiar Cybertronian corpse in tow.

"Yo, Kara! I think that's as good as that dent's gonna get for now!" Will called up, surprising her. She slipped from her perch, falling towards the ground. Will quickly moved under her, breaking her fall, crashing to the ground himself. "Oof!"

"Oof is right!" she glared at him, crossing her arms, refusing to move. "We've had this discussion before! Do not sneak up on me when I am working in high places!"

"And again I say sorry! Get off me, your motherly fat is squishing me!" Will groaned playfully. She slapped him hard on the arm before getting up.

"I would like to point out it is now all back to fat!" she glared up at the chuckling Hide and Ragi. "Shut up!"

"Its alright, guys. This is another lesson in why you don't discuss a woman's weight with her," Will stood, looping an arm around her shoulders. "So, wanna look at what we brought in?"

"Another corpse?" she shoved him away and turned around.

"Sentinel," Hide knelt down next to it as she moved over. "Optimus wants to properly bury him."

"As we should. He had the right intentions, just went about it the wrong way," she stepped onto Hide's hand and let him lift her up to get a good look at the damage. "And I'm guessing he wants all this fixed?"  
>"As best as you and Ratchet can do," Hide nodded. She frowned, reaching out to touch one of the cuts. Her new necklace fell out from underneath her shirt.<p>

"Optimus say anything about the other shards?" She glanced up at him.

"No, not yet. Hopefully soon. I don't like them all being together," Hide nodded.

"We'll think of something," she focused back on the corpse. Something was stuck in the cut. She leaned farther forward, trying to reach it. The shard of the Allspark attached to her necklace brushed the Cybertronians body and began to glow. She jerked back, falling into Hide's hand as Sentinel's body started to glow as well.

"What did you do?" Hide stood, his free hand turning into a cannon. She heard the click of Will's gun from below and Ragi moved to their side.

"I did nothing!" her eyes grew wide as the once dull optics lit back up. With a groan, Sentinel sat back up, one hand going to his head.

"What….happened?"

"That's what I want to know," Ratchet spoke from behind them and she glanced over Hide's shoulder to see Ratchet standing by the recharging Optimus, a familiar figure standing next to him.

"Shit."

_***Emily***_

"This isn't my base," she frowned, looking around at this now and unfamiliar location.

"That is because it is my base," Ratchet spoke up as they pulled up next to a medical tent, a little large for human purposes. "I have equipment here better suited to fix his leg quickly."

"Quickly isn't always good," she climbed out, carrying the sleeping form of the boy. The dog followed, tail wagging fiercely. Ratchet transformed back into his earlier version, once again making her feel small.

"No, not for your technology, but I have technology far more advanced that will save the boy's life," Ratchet moved into the tent. "In here."

"Where are all the injured autobots?" she followed, a little frustrated.

"Outside, resting. Hopefully not causing too many problems for Kara. Although, she can very…evil when she wants to be," Ratchet set his hand down in front of her. "Climb on."

"Alright," she cautiously did so and he lifted her up onto a table.

"Set him down, please," Ratchet set the dog next to them before turning to set of shelves. She did so, looking around. It was like a massive infirmary, only there were instruments she didn't know.

"Alright, this here will help the bone set right and clear out the infection. We'll still cast it, but it will take less time and it will set properly," he turned back to them, handing her a needle. She took it, frowning. He laughed. "Don't worry, it has been used before. Many times, actually. Soldiers are the best at knowing how to break bones in interesting fashions."

"I will take you word for it," she slid the needle into the boys arm and then went about putting a cast on his leg. She and Ratchet stood back to admire their handy work.

" Would you like to see the rest of the camp?" Ratchet held out his hand after a few minutes.

"Sure!" she smiled, climbing on. The dog yapped once at her before curling up next to the boy. "That's right, watch him."

"Dogs are interesting creatures," Ratchet chuckled, moving outside once again. "I have a friend, Ironhide, who hates them. He had a bad run in with a Chihuahua and hasn't liked them since."

"And how big is he?"

"See for yourself," he set her down, nodding to an autobots kneeling next to a corpse of another. Ratchet turned to the autobot next to him, who she thought was sleeping. "That is Ironhide there. Him and Kara must be checking over Sentinel. Optimus wants his remains cleaned up before the burial."

"What's wrong with him?" she moved next to him, touching the autobots.

"This is Optimus Prime, our leader. He had a nasty battle with Sentinel and Megatron during the destruction of this city. He's the only one who survived," Ratchet glanced down at her.

"But….he looks like you guys?" she frowned, glancing at the corpse.

"He was one of us, but he made a deal with the devil. He had the right intentions, just the wrong means," Ratchet shrugged. Both turned as the corpse started to glow.

"Is that normal?" she moved closer to him as Ironhide stood and another autobots and a soldier appeared next to him, guns aimed at the glowing body.

"No, its not," Ratchet growled. The glowing stopped and the corpse sat up.

"What happened?" Sentinel mumbled, his now glowing optics looking over them.

"That's what I want to know," Ratchet growled at the others. A human head appeared over Ironhide's shoulder, oddly familiar.

"Shit!" She knew that voice.

"Carolyn!"


	12. Well, Its a Start

_***Emily***_

She looked around, unsure of what to do or say. Ratchet had left her in his med tent, needing to speak to the others about the currently revived Sentinel. He was sitting not far from her, nervous, glancing at her occasionally. She sighed, glancing at the boy, making sure he was asleep before turning to the robot,"I'm not gonna eat you."

"What?" his head jerked up, surprise on his face. She smiled, climbing off the table and grabbing a toolbox. Ratchet had patched him up a bit, but it had been rushed, saying something about needing to blast Carolyn and Ironhide into the next galaxy.

"I'm a doctor, a human doctor, but a doctor and a good mechanic. I'm gonna fix you up, seeing as Ratchet seemed a little pissed," she moved to his side, setting down the toolbox. A hand appeared over it and she looked up at him. "Look, I can help."

"You do realize what I did, fleshling?" Sentinel frowned at her. "I tried to destroy your planet, enslave your race."

"Yeah...but Ratchet said you were just trying to save yours. Think of this as a second chance. You can try to save your race the right way," she shrugged, pushing his hands away. "I find it best to see the best in people. Makes my work a little easier if I see a murderer as a father or a neighbor when treating him so I do it right."

"You are a strange one. Not as strange as the other one, the other female, but close," Sentinel sat back, watching her work.

"Carolyn? Yeah, she sure is strange. She used to have dark hair, like almost black. We were friends when we were younger and let me tell you, she could be violent then, but this is a whole new level," she shrugged, working on fixing his leg, which was the closest for her to reach. Someone moved next to her, taking the wrench and easily tightening the bolt.

"Cybertronians didn't think of humans when they made bolts. Gotta have some umf behind it," Carolyn handed the wrench back to her, looking a little peeved.

"Am I not suppose to be fixing him?" she glared at her, wanting her to challenge her, show her she had grown up too. Show her she wasn't the only one who could fight. What she got was a laugh.

"Hell, no! Ratchet needs all the help he can get on this one. You look like shit, you know?" Carolyn looked up at Sentinel. "Actually, it would be shit warmed over, since you were dead."

"You always have had the most wonderful manners," Ratchet growled as he came to stand over them, glaring down at Carolyn. "We didn't need another demonstration."

"But he loves me for bringing him back," she smiled up at him. "Plus, maybe this will help heal the rift between you guys."

"What are you talking about?" Em found it scary how easily Carolyn talked to the autobot.

"He was pissing me off," Carolyn shrugged. "So I showed him what I did with Sentinel here."

"On Barricade!" Ratchet threw up his hands, setting to work on Sentinel. "A decepticon!"

"Got a problem with me, doc?" a cold voice hissed from the doorway and they all turned to see Optimus and Ironhide standing beside a decepticon. "Or is it the girl? Just give me a reason."

"You make friends everywhere you go, don't you?" Ironhide chuckled as he forced Barricade to sit next to Sentinel. "Mirage snuck off. Jazz and Prowl are looking out for him."

"What?" anger flashed in Carolyn's eyes. "Why that little."

"Mommy! Wagi go simming!" a little voice screeched and a little blur slammed into Carolyn's legs. Amazingly she stayed up. "Can we go simming?"

"No, Teddy, we can't. Mommy has to help Uncle Ratchet. Maybe Uncle Will can take you?" she knelt beside the little boy, softening.

"Okay!" he smiled, looking up at the others. His eyes fell on Barricade. "Friend!"

"Say please," Carolyn frowned, looking a little nervous. The little boy easily dodged away from her, climbing onto Barricade's let. Em noticed everyone tensed, including Sentinel.

"You be my friend. No peas!" the boy looked pointedly up at Barricade. "Haf ta be!"

"What ever, kid," Barricade had tensed as well, unsure of what to do. "Go...simming?"

"Ok!" and the kid was gone. Carolyn breathed a sigh of relief before turning to Em.

"So, Em, that was my son, Teddy. He's...special."

_***Erika***_

She was the only one not in Chicago at the moment and that was just fine by her. She had enough to deal with between her agent spazing via text, her blog pretty much on fire between people siding with her or wanting to burn her at the stake and taking calls from Scotty to let her cool off after a hard days work. She figured she heard enough horror to be there, so she didn't plan on going there anytime soon. Which depressed her, because she had season tickets to the Bears and now that was probably not gonna happen. She didn't mind, her current project was setting up a charity for the rebuilding of Chicago. So far, she had a couple big donations.

Her phone started ringing, her personal one,"This is the Candian Hermit. Speak."

"Hey, Cap," Em's voice filled her ear. She smiled, leaning back on her sofa.

"I was starting to get worried. Scotty said she hadn't seen you but your email said you were there. Hows it going?"

"Alright. I...ah...I've got a son now."

"Whoa! What?"

"Well, I rescued this little boy a couple days ago and we just found out his parents are dead and no relatives have been found, so I adopted him. His name is Tom. Thomas Tokamura. Nice ring, huh?"

"Ah, cute!" she squealed. "This means I'm an aunt!"

"Well, you're the second aunt. Carolyn got the first slot, since she was here for it and all."

"What?" she sat bolt up right.

"Well, it was her squad that came in and helped the autobots take down the decepticons. Oh, alright. She wants to talk to you. Is that alright?"

"Ah...yeah?" she closed her eyes, her heart racing. What was she suppose to say?

"Erika?" Carolyn sounded cautious at the other end.

"Yeah, its me."

"Hows it going?"

"Good. New book released and I have a musical being released shortly. You?"

"Oh, the usual. Blowing up giant aliens and stuff."

"So, you work with alien robots?"

"Kinda like a consultant thing."

"For how long?"

"Couple years."

"You enjoy it?"

"Yeah," it sounded like she was smiling. "There's one, Mirage, but I call him Ragi. He's like this cute little puppy, only he's a Ferrari. Follows me everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Into battle or down to the store to by mac and cheese."

"You sound happy."

"I am...that alright?" oh, she was testing the waters now.

"Well, something has to get you happy, right?" offer forgiveness first, that was the one thing she had learned from her therapist.

"Right," well, at least things were starting to get better. "Hows the stadium looking?"

"Somehow it survived. Decepticons must hate the Bears too much to even touch the field."

"Bitch! Don't diss my team!"

"You just wish you could win a Super Bowl."

"Oh, low blow there, missy!"

"We have years of insults to make up for. Might as well get started."

"Okay, but I'm not leaving my hole in the Earth to come visit giant aliens."

"Fine by me."


	13. The Begining of the End is the Begining

_***Amanda***_

_Dear Amanda,_

_I know its been a while, but life has been crazy for me. I can't tell you all that I've been doing because of national security and what not, but I can tell you that I am doing very well right now. I am taking a new career change which should put me a little safer position. I'm sure the world is going to hate me eventually, but I will have a lot of people protecting me. _

_Along with this letter is a little gift for you. Its really special to me and you are one of the few people I trust with it. Its very unique and very valuable, so please don't lose it and don't sell it. I hope you find it very useful._

_The best of luck to you in your future ventures,_

_Colonel Carolyn Williams_

_CEO of NEST Security Agency_

Amanda looked over the letter again, a small white cloudy crystal in her hand. Compared to all the diamonds she had, it was by far the most beautiful stone she now owned. You didn't find a stone like this anywhere, if it even was a stone. She wasn't going to question it, though. Carolyn was trusting her now, so she was going to do just as letter had vaguely instructed. She knew the best way to heal old injuries was by trusting the other person.

She looked over at Gracie, holding up the stone,"How about a new collar?"

Gracie jumped into her lap, tail wagging wildly. "I'll take that as a yes."

_Woof!_

_***Erika***_

_Dear Erika,_

_Its been fun chatting, but I'm gonna drop a load on you again. I know how much you loved the last one, so this one should really suck. I've kinda sorta been promoted. I'm being placed in charge of the NEST Security Agency, out of Chicago. Its gonna put me in a whole new battlefield. I get to deal with politics all over the world. Make even more dangerous enemies and what not, but I enjoy this sort of thing._

_Now, I know you don't like my line of work, so this should help with my first set of instructions for you. I need you to act like you hate me, okay? Tear me apart on your blog, have your agent release interviews and what not. It is better for you if you don't support me or some very dangerous beings may come after you._

_The next set of instructions is what is coming along with this letter. Its a stone, a very special stone. A very unique stone that is very dear to me. I need you to keep it safe, keep it secret. Don't worry, it won't explode and its not radioactive. I just need someone I can trust to protect it and I trust you. Please, do this one thing for me and I will make sure you don't get hurt._

_I know you probably don't like this, but for now I need all of you to restrict communications with me. Please, this is for your own good._

_Sincerely,_

_Colonel Carolyn Williams_

_CEO of NEST Security Agency_

Erika didn't know what to think. She honestly didn't. It had been a month since Chicago and she and Carolyn had been on decent talking terms. Emily was heading back to Hawaii with Tom and his dog, Honu, in a few days. She hadn't said much about what Carolyn had been up to, although Em knew what she was doing. She and Carolyn were getting someplace and all of a sudden she wanted to end it. She wanted her to rip her to shreds on her blog and all because of this promotion. And a very strange promotion it was. Overnight, this NEST agency had sprung up, headed by Colonel Carolyn Williams. The picture on the website scared her. She sat in a high backed chair, her white hair pulled back in a braid, her dark eyes glaring out at the world. She wore a kinda military, business suit mix. She was scary. She looked mean. She looked powerful. Her assistants were featured beneath her, Sam and Carly Witwicky. They looked nice enough, but still, it was strange. All of a sudden there were plans for what was now being called a fortress not far from the edge of Chicago as headquarters for NEST. What they were going to do...it was very vague. What was going on?

She didn't need to know right now. Her friend was asking her to trust her. She didn't have to like it, but she was going to do it. She looked down at the stone in her hand. Where would she be able to hide it on herself. She looked down at her ankle bracelet. She needed a new charm.

_***Emily***_

"So, this is it."

"Yup."

"Just like that?"f

"Just like that."

"Why?" she looked up at her friend, Carolyn, who sat across from her in the med tent in Chicago. They both would be leaving later that day, her back to Hawaii with Tom and Honu, Carolyn to her new home, NEST Fortress.

"Its safer this way, for everyone. You take that stone and you already have put yourself in danger. Talking to me as soon as I start….being officially NEST, then you put yourself in an even more dangerous situation. People aren't going to trust me. I'm working outside of government control, my company popped up a little too close to Chicago's destruction and well….I'm not one to play nice with diplomats," she shrugged. "I don't want to have you guys linked to me. If the decepticons come back in full force, they'll figure out I have something to do with the autobots and then they'll come after me. If, and I mean IF, they get the info about the shard out of me, they'll start looking for the others and that means connections, human connections."

"So, this stone could kill all of us and?" she frowned. This was putting Tom and the others in danger.

"Shard, Em. And you won't be alone. Ratchet will be your permanent guard and we'll have a rotation so there will always be at least one other you won't see," Carolyn smiled up at Ratchet as he pulled up, in his rescue hummer mode.

"So, I have to deal with you?" she glared up at Ratchet.

"I'm taking this as a learning opportunity!" Ratchet bounced on his axles a little. "I get to learn whole new operations and maybe improve on them!"

"And only I will know, right?" she turned back to Carolyn, who was looking smug.

"Only those who need to know should be told. It would best if your connections to the autobots are also hidden."

"And the others?"

"They will have guardians as well, but will not be told. Like you, one permanent and one or more floaters."

"And you?"

Carolyn laughed,"I think I have enough protection. Don't worry about me."

"There are five shards. Who else gets them?" she stood, grabbing her bag.

"The less you know, the better. If you get caught and they figure out there are more, they'll do a whole lot more damage trying to figure out who the others are. So, instead of dying after betraying others, you can die kinda happy."

"Ever the positive one," she climbed into the open cab. "Be safe, okay? Try not to get into too many stupid situations."

"I'll work on it," Carolyn smiled and waved them off before moving to the waiting Ferrari. Em shook her head, looking forward as Honu jumped into her lap. Tom sat in the passenger seat, sucker in hand.

"Where we going….miss?"

"You can call me Em if you want," she smiled, turning to him. "We're going home."


	14. Welcome Back to Hell

_***Carolyn***_

Oh, how life changes. One minute it felt like she was just a lowly soldier, just doing her duty. Then she pisses off the right Captain who becomes a Major and all of a sudden she's thrown into the world of alien robot warfare. Now she's being forced to run around on covert ops, finding the enemy, another half of the alien robot race. Which means finding ways to hide weapons in very skimpy outfits and dealing with a very feisty red Ferrari. The Captain who is now a Major doesn't hate your guts anymore, now sees you as a kind of sister. Even though you're one of two girls on the squad (one who is an alien robot) you find life very satisfying. You find it hilarious to toy with the men and you form a very close knit family over the next few and very trying years. Then, you find out you're pregnant, your father is killed and you take over the project he didn't tell you about. You have the kid and deal with what came a little too close to the end of the world for your liking. You finish the project and bring back dead alien robots from the dead. Now…what could top all that? Well, how about becoming a Colonel for starters. Then getting placed in charge of fake security agency that was created to protect the alien robots who didn't want to go out in public as giant alien robots. You think life is going to slow down for at least a few years. You don't relax, you never will, but you feel like life would allow you a few years of the simpler life. After about two months, you realize what you had before was the simpler life. This, what you are living right now, is hell.

"Your Highness, I think you misunderstood our earlier agreement," she glared at the man across from her. He sat in a high backed chair, a huge window behind him showing snow falling heavily. She sat in a similar chair, wearing two-inch black boots and an all black dress with inch thick straps and a v-cut in the front. Her white hair was tied back in a braid reaching her shoulder blades. "I am only here to offer you and your family protection, not to go over a contract for an army. That is not what I do."

"Then what is it that you do, my dear?" his thick Russian accent would have sent chills down a normal persons back, she was used to it by now. "Than not just this sort of thing."

"I provide security to those my company believes needs it. You should feel honored I came personally. Normally my assistants or someone from within the company comes. I felt this deserved a little more….force behind it," she smiled sickly at him. God, she should have sent Will instead. No, Optimus and Will should not have overridden her decision to send Will. Somehow they thought she would be the better one for this mission than a big, buff male. All this Russian diplomat was seeing was something he wanted to see more of….later that night.

"You are a very powerful person, Ms. Williams, but so am I," he smiled right back at her. "I do not need a woman's protection."

"You do understand what you are facing, Your Highness?" her smile slipped away, returning to her usual frozen stare.

"I am facing a civil war in my country. I do not need protection, I need an army to back me."

"You are facing the possibility of your entire castle being massacred, sir," he was too stupid for any other title now. "Do you wish that to happen?"

"My guards will protect all of us," he shrugged, reaching for a cigar. Her frown deepened. "Now, tell me, what all do you wish to do while you are here?"

"Actually, this was all I was planning. I will be returning to the airport now," she stood, looking down at him over her nose. "I am sorry, but I have other clientele who would be more than happy for the services I offer."

"Is there no other services you offer?" he stood as well, looking hungrily at her.

"None what so ever. Thank you for your lack of hospitality. You have been warned," she turned on her heel and exited the room, storming past the guards. Ragi was waiting out in the hall for her, dressed in a long, thick coat, high combat boots and dark pants. He handed her coat to her, falling into step beside her.

"He's an idiot," he hissed as she pulled on the coat. "They will be killed soon. Optimus just called, recent intel confirms that the cons movements place them an hour out."

"Lets hope it stays an hour," she took the hat and gloves from Ragi, quickly pulling them on. "Did you see how he was looking at me? You'd think after two years of providing quality service all over the world I would stop being seen as a slutty figure head."

Ragi chuckled, letting her take his arm as they moved outside to the waiting black Ferrari. Wind bit at her, turning her legs numb in seconds of leaving the safety of the warm hall. Snow blew into her face, making it hard to see, "It doesn't help when I'm forced to wear this sort of stuff either!"

"Again, Optimus thought this would be the best way to approach him," Ragi chuckled again. The long standing argument between her and Optimus was how he thought she should approach people. Well, what she should wear when she approached people. She had a good idea Epps and the guys helped choose some of them.

"When we get back, I am making it very clear that I decide what I wear from now on. Or Arcee helps. You guys can have a say in it, but I need to be able to function," she shot him a glare before focusing back on trying to see the Ferrari. Ragi wasn't having any problems. Damn alien and his new upgrades for cold weather.

"I will warn the others then. And…."Ragi froze, looking around. She instinctively reached inside her pocket, moving closer to him.

"What is it?" she whispered in his ear.

"We don't have an hour," he hissed, scooping her up and racing in what she could only guess was the direction of the car.

"How long do we have?" she wrapped an arm around his neck, her other hand wrapping around the pistol in her pocket.

"We have none," his grey eyes looked at her for a second before he threw them forward, covering her as a nearby wall exploded. They could just barely make out screams above the wind that was shortly followed by gunfire. Ragi yelled into her ear, "We have to get to the car!"

"You go!" she pushed him away. "I'll stay in this general spot."

He frowned before flickering out of existence. She stood, pistol out, waiting. She knew that with the colder weather normally he wouldn't be able to come, but Brains had come up with some new upgrades. Slower starts and what not, but they could at least start. So far, the only problems they had run into were human, but some of the humans had had con tech. There was a con out there, one that had survived Chicago, but they had yet to find him.

She heard a familiar rumble from nearby and turned to see a black Ferrari appear out of the snow, but something wasn't right….

"Pretender!" she yelled into mouthpiece hidden in her jacket as she dodged out of the way of the speeding car. Just her luck, a Pretender! A Pretender working with humans. Humans coming out of the snow with bigger guns than she had. "Ragi, where are you?"

She got off a couple rounds into the attacking humans before she felt something slam into her side, throwing her towards the oncoming charge of bodies. Pain exploded in her hip and ribs on her right side, telling her serious damage had been done. Shit!

She slammed into one of the burly guys, taking him down. Pain could hopefully wait. She snapped his neck before taking his gun and turning it on the others. Something sliced through her right knee as she kicked out at an attacker, blood mixing in with the falling snow. This just wasn't her day! "Ragi!"

Something came crashing through the men moving in on her. Sending them flying. A black Ferrari. She pointed the gun at it as it pulled to a stop next to her, transforming quickly into the familiar red mech, "I am sorry, we were being jammed."

"Pretender," she gasped, lowering the gun and ripping off part of her coat, tying it around her knee. Ragi knelt next to her, quickly scanning her.

"We must get you back to the others," he was worried.

"But, the Russians," she tried to stand.

"You have a rib centimeters from puncturing a lung. We are going back," he growled, transforming. His holoform appeared, carefully scooping her up as the passenger door flew open. He laid her out on the seats, which had convently molded themselves into one surface, before disappearing. The door slammed shut and the Ferrari leapt forward into the snow. She took slow, deep breaths, closing her eyes.

"They are waiting for us at the airport," Ragi's voice jerked her out of semi-counciousness. "Rest, I am driving at a speed that should not jar you. It will be about an hour."

"Compared to the six it took for us to get out here," she smiled a little. "Next time, its gonna be Will and Prowl or Barricade."

"Agreed," Ragi chuckled. "We'll stick to fancy dinner parties and political conventions for a few months."

"And then we'll get bored and go on one of these missions," she let her eyes drift shut, feeling safe.

"And start everything back over again. Oh, Will just called."

"Yeah?"

"He said welcome back to hell."


	15. Just a Regular Day and a Crazy Medic

***Emily***

"Ray! Get over here!" she yelled, tapping her foot, her right arm in a sling, standing in the doorway of the garage. They had just finished up a major rescue of a tourist ship that had crashed into a cliff. She had come out of it with a sprained elbow and two weeks easy work, Ray had come out of a little too smug. Ray Mirez, or Ratchet as he was known by those in the group, was her new assistant and handy with at ratchet, hence the nickname, which she had given him. He also happened to be the holoform of her hummer.

Speaking of her hummer, two heads popped around the end, smiling brightly. One was the young, tan face covered in shaggy brown hair of Ratchet, the other was the older, more worn face of Sammy Prips, the newest transfer from the mainland. He'd been stationed in Chicago for years and his supervisor had finally transferred him for a "retirement regiment". He was the oldest guy they had and had come with his own fire truck and nickname, Sentinel. He also happened to be the holoform of the truck next to her hummer.

"Yes, Em?" Ratchet smiled, going by her nickname. He knew she meant business when she used his fake real name.

"What did you do to the refrigerator?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," his smile grew. Little did the others know their medic was young at heart and had a prankster mind eviler than the twins.

"Oh, you do and shut up, Sentinel!" she turned her glare on the laughing man. "What did I do to deserve you two?"

"Ah, she loves us!" Ratchet laughed, moving out from hiding behind the hummer. He was quickly shut up by a face full of blue goo.

"You killed the ice machine!" she glared at him as the goo dripped down his face.

"Its easily fixed," he shrugged, disappearing before reappearing next to her, goo free. Sentinel followed close behind. "How's your arm?"

"Just fine, no thanks to the tourists," she grumbled, stomping back up the stairs into her apartment. She heard them following. "That fucking lady and her fucking dog put me on light work for two weeks!"

"But she had to save the poodle from a bad hair day," Sentinel moved to the fridge, tinkering around with it as she flopped down onto her couch. Ratchet sat down next to her, trying to look sympathetic.

"The poodle was doing just fine saving itself," she snapped. Sentinel chuckled from behind the fridge.

"You will live and the lady will have to deal with the pissy husband. All's well that ends well," Ratchet shrugged.

"It could've ended a whole lot better. Is my fridge fixed?" She looked over her shoulder at Sentinel as he came to stand behind them.

"Yes, and it is now Ratchet proofed for the time being," he nodded.

"That's not fair!" Ratchet pouted. She giggled a little.

"Deal with it! Better be glad Tom wasn't here or you'd be cleaning up the mess!" she swatted him with her free hand.

"Speaking of Tom, where is he?" Ratchet glanced down at the dog stretched out on the floor by the door. Honu lifted his head lazily, giving Ratchet a look clearly saying, "You're the robot, you figure it out".

"If dogs could only speak," she sighed.

"So, where is he?" Ratchet turned to her.

"On his way from school, like usual," she closed her eyes. "You find him, you are the robot."

"She has you there," she heard a chair creak as Sentinel sat down. "Incoming datafile from Optimus."

Her eyes flew open, looking over at him. Ratchet tensed, also watching as Sentinel's eyes went blank for a few minutes. Even Honu sat up, watching expectantly. Finally, Sentinel's eyes lit back up and his face grew worried, "He says they've found at least one 'con in Russia, maybe more. They're still doing scans from the station."

The station was a huge space station no one was suppose to know about, but she did because she was friends with the autobots. It had been built and launched a little over a year ago into orbit around the Earth, farther out than any of the satellites so that they didn't have to worry about it floating in front of them. Two or three autobots or turned decepticons as well as a few humans were up there right now, monitoring Earth and the surrounding space. It also had the ability to find Cybertronians via their energy signatures. Right now she thought maybe Jazz or Wheeljack was in charge up there.

"How'd they find him?" she frowned. "And what type?"

She had found herself privy to a little more info than the common citizen because of her connects and could now identify a Cybertronians specific duty or type. Ratchet had wanted her and Tom ready for anything, so she had learned as much as she could.

"He's a Pretender. Nasty little buggers, never liked them," Sentinel grumbled. "You know what they are, right?"  
>"They can take on any alt form or holoform, but not the mech mode, right?"<p>

"Correct. Sounds like it was a typical mission, pretty safe, so Optimus and Will….."he laughed a little as his eyes dimmed again, reading the report. "They forced Carolyn to go on this one, with Mirage of course. Normal pre-mission complaints from both. Optimus had better watch himself, she's gonna rip an arm off one of these days."

"Sentinel," Ratchet growled. Optimus sent the stuff to Sentinel to keep Ratchet as hidden as possible, so they had to rely on what he told them.

"Sorry, anyway, pretty routine. Well, routine as in your typical male who has too much money and time and women in one place. Didn't listen, so Carolyn and Mirage were pulling out. Didn't even make it back to the car before the guys attacked. The Pretender had taken over the rebel commander's spot. Probably found out a NEST op. was gonna be there. Both made it out alright, but the others are still looking. Covered the whole thing up with some line about the start of a civil war or something."

"How are Carolyn and Mirage?" she leaned forward. "Why aren't they looking, too?"

"Carolyn took some heavy damage. Couple broken ribs, fractured hip, bullets through the knee and lower leg, bruises, that sort of thing, so Optimus sent them home with Will."

"Oh," both her and Ratchet winced. Will was gonna have his hands full with those two.

"Yup and Mirage only got a couple scratches from the Pretender till he was able to communications back. He's screwed," Sentinel chuckled. Both of the autobots had learned human mannerisms quite quickly, so a regular conversation sounded almost normal. Almost.

There was a pounding of feet up the stairs and Honu jumped up, tail wagging," MOM! I'm home! When's supper?"

Well, what was a regular day without a couple brusies, a mission report and having to cook supper?


	16. Blogger Gone Crazy

_***Erika***_

_Well, my friends, they did it. They blew up Russia! If only. We've all heard the story by now, a King of a country in what we call Russia was killed, his palace reduced to rubble and everyone inside massacred. Now, I know many of you are thinking back to exactly two years ago, when the city of Chicago was nearly leveled. All the governments in the world are trying to tell their people that they have nothing to fear, that this has nothing to do with it. I beg to differ! You can't shut up reporters and I know a few who have reports, images and film showing not one but two Cybertronians present at the palace. One was clearly an Autobot, the other a Decepticon. It wouldn't surprise me if more were in the area. Is this part of the Autobots search for the left over Decepticons? The beings that the U.S. government swore had all been killed but the Autobots said were still alive? I would say yes! I haven't heard yet if the Decepticon was killed or not, but I do know that the Autobot that had been present left quite quickly. Why, you might ask, when there was a palace full of innocent bystanders? Not as innocent as you might think, actually. It turns out that our lovely Russian king was actually sending funds to the Decepticon that killed him. Why the Decepticon turned on the man can be answered a million different ways, but there is another interesting story that might answer it._

_My sources have informed me that they saw the CEO of NEST Security Agency, former Colonel, Carolyn Williams, enter the palace a little more than an hour before the attack. She was never seen leaving, but it was rumored that she was there to negotiate with the king about setting up defenses against such an attack. Now, we all know so much about our lovely new bodyguard, NEST and its even lovelier CEO, Ms. Williams, so it is safe to assume that the negotiations were to be off the record. Now, I know NEST has a wonderful track record with stopping Decepticons and what not, but they still have more secrets in the two years of its existence than the U.S. government has in the entirety of its existence. And then we have Ms. Williams, it's wonderful CEO. Why did she leave the army? How did she come about so much money? How did her company form so quickly? What are her ties to the Autobots? So many unanswered questions and such tightly closed lips. The woman is now currently the most powerful woman in the world in the past three decades and we know nothing about her. She has her hands in all sorts of operations, from oil to agriculture to nuclear weapons to security, but what are the connections between them? She still refuses an interview with anyone and no one other than her staff and members of NEST have ever been inside the Fortress._

_Have you seen pictures of it? I know I have them posted on my blog, but I want to draw your attention to the most recent. There is a fence now covering the entire border of her property. And I don't mean a nice stone wall. I mean a twenty foot stone wall, a thirty foot barb wire fence, a chain link fence, guard towers, trenches, and you can bet a million different security measures in place. Why so protective of your castle, Ms. Williams? How old are you, anyway? How did you get all your files sealed off from any sort of searches? Why are you so important? You can't even find her home town or any references to her in papers anywhere till up to two years ago. Who is the woman, really and why are so many important people trusting her with their safety?_

_Now, I had one of my followers ask a question of me and I decided to do some research. The question was how do you get security from NEST? Well, this is how. Either you give your first born child to Ms. Williams, give her a small country or all the priceless heirlooms in your house. Then, she'll take the time to look over your application. Us poor, everyday citizens can't even get into the company's website. I've tried and it ain't working! Why aren't we good enough? Don't we need protection from Decepticons or whatever else may decide to eat us?_

_Oh, I just got some more juicy info. It seems Ms. Williams' car was seen racing away during the destruction of the palace. No sign of her in the past couple days. Was she injured? Well, my sources say she may have been because her doctor's private jet is currently parked at Ms. Williams' private strip, placed nicely next to the huge NEST Fortress. So, Ms. Williams, not as invincible as you lead us to believe?_

_News flash! NEST has issued a statement! Assistant Sam Witwicky has just reported that Ms. Williams is in perfect health and had left the palace well before the attack. Hiding something, Ms. Williams? I don't think so. We aren't that stupid!_

_Now, I don't want any of you to take this and think I have something against the Autobots. I don't, honest! What I am trying to say is that where as the Autobots want to be honest with us, their human counterparts tend to leave out a few facts. Why we may never know, but it is happening. What we sometimes tend to forget is that it is human nature. Hide something away until the right moment so as to have the upper hand. Maybe what they really fear is the ones they are fighting. Maybe they want to keep something hidden away until the right time, when it will be useful. So, Ms. Williams, you're still a bitch but at least you're maybe protecting the good guys. That still doesn't get you out of all the blogs. I'm still gonna rip you to shreds. You piss me off. It's not me, it's you. That sort of thing, ya know. You're just fresh fodder for the animals. Until the next time you screw up._

_E. A. Sparrow_

Erika sat back, satisfied with her blog post. Yup, she was getting pretty good at bashing people she really didn't want to bash. Now, to go act like a normal person. With a not so normal sized truck. She looked out at her Topkick and smiled. Oh, yeah, time for a night on the town. Beware, Ontario, Erika Nettles is coming and she doesn't plan to hold back. Who cares what her friends say, some habits die hard and this was one habit she wasn't planning on killing. She called this practice. As soon as whatever Carolyn was doing was done, she was taking all four of them out and they were going to party like they did when they were younger, drive-in theater and beach party included. Yup, life was going good for her, even though she almost daily ripped apart her friend. At least she had other things to look forward to, like pictures of Tom from Emily or Amanda's latest hair brained scheme or some awesome surprise from her agent. Yup, she was lucky and she knew it. She glanced down at her ankle, where a small stone was hidden beneath her jeans. How long was her luck going to last, though?


	17. My Wheelchair Knight

_***Amanda***_

"Gracie, sit."

_Woof!_

"Not! Not speak, sit. Gracie, sit."

_Woof!_

"No, sit."

_Woof!_

"Sit."

_Woof!_

"Sit."

_Woof!_

"Fine, speak."

_Thump!_

"No! You were suppose to sit, not play dead!"

_Woof!_

"No, sit."

_Woof!_

"Gracie!"

_Click, click._

"Oh, so I say your name and you sit, huh?"

_Woof!_

"Okay, we have to work on your English. Am I gonna have to demonstrate this one as well?"

_Woof!_

"Boss, I think she's just messing with you."

"Shush, Marcus! Can't you see we're trying to have a conversation?"

_Woof! Woof!"_

"That's right, Gracie. You tell him who's the boss. Here, have a treat."

_Woof! Click! Click! Click!_

"Stay off the couch, please!"

A muffled woof answered from her office as she turned to her staff, who were setting up for that day's photo shoot, "Everyone ready?"

"Yes, ma'am," Lisa smirked as she pushed the stunned Marcus back towards the dressing rooms. "Well done with Gracie today."

"We're making progress," she smiled, getting up off her knees from where she had been trying to teach Gracie basic commands. She had easily gotten shake, play dead, be a dive, pout, beg and speak just fine, but when it came to more of the obedience stuff, she seemed to struggle. She was going to make her mommy so proud!

"Takes after her mother," Charles, her main assistant, rolled over. He'd lost the use of his legs a few years ago in a car accident, but that did not stop the man one bit. "Are you ready, my dear?"

Did she forget to mention he was British? "Why, yes, Charles, I am," she gave him a quick kiss, taking her camera from him. She noticed there was a box tied to the strap. "Charles, what is this?"

"A little something for my second best girl," he smiled up at her. When she had first met him, all she had seen was that smile. She didn't notice the wheelchair till after about three hours wandering the mall together. When she had pointed it out, he had just laughed. Some had called her a blonde for it, but Charles understood. She was seeing him for who he truly was, not what by what people defined him with. They'd worked together for about three years, in which time she had gotten her own business and he had come with, before they had started dating. It was an on again, off again thing, but nothing every changed their friendship. Nothing ever could. He was now living with her, having his own room, office and bathroom, which had been specially built for him. He was an amazing computer tech, so he did most of her advertising and graphics for her shows.

"Oh, second best? Who's the first?" she smiled, taking the box carefully off the camera.

"Gracie, of course," he laughed. "No one can beat cuteness like that."

"Oh, you're a regular comedian," she laughed, not noticing that her staff had stopped working and was watching them. She carefully opened the box, her eyes growing wide. Inside was a ring, a silver x inlaid with diamonds and emeralds. Her eyes slowly moved to Charles, her mouth wide open. He wheeled forward, pulling her into his lap.

"Amanda Scotty Michaels, will you marry me?" He took the box and removed the ring, holding it up. She could only nod, holding out her hand. The staff broke into cheers as Charles slipped the ring onto her finger. He pulled her into a long kiss, which was interrupted by a wet, slobbery doggie mouth as Gracie leapt onto her lap. It snapped her out of her shock and she started crying and laughing at the same time, giving Charles a huge hug.

"I love you!" she whispered in his ear.

"I love you, too," he chuckled. "Now, I don't mean to ruin this moment, but I believe someone has a photo shoot to do."

"Oh…alright!" she stood, placing Gracie into Charles' lap and turning to the staff, wiping her face. "Lets go, people! After this we starting planning!"

All the females in the room shrieked, swarming forward to see the ring. It took a few minutes, but they got the photo shoot started. She found herself looking down at the ring every so often, still in mild shock to have it sitting on her hand. It was so beautiful, simple yet perfect.

"I'm getting married," she gasped and Lisa laughed from beside her, throwing an arm around her shoulder as the next scene got set up.

"That you are, my dear," she said, with a perfect British accent. "And you are going to love every single minute of it."

"I have to make some calls," she frowned, trying to decide who to call first. Emily or Erika…which one?

"Three way, boss," Lisa seemed to know what she was thinking. "Get it all done in one go."

"Oh, right!" she hugged Lisa before running into her office, quickly dialing both friends.

"Hello?"

"Canadian Hermit. Who is this?"

"Guys, three way. Its Amanda," she didn't know what to say.

"Is everything alright?" Em sounded worried. They could hear voices in the background. "Its Amanda and Erika. Ratchet, don't let Tom on that skateboard till he has a helmet one!"

"Everything's fine. Its just….." she could barely believe it herself.

"Is it about Carolyn?" Erika sounded annoyed. "Its bad enough that we have to wait for the new to find out."

"What about Carolyn?" she frowned.

"Didn't you hear?" Em sighed.

"I'm sure Miss Emily has all the juicy little details," Erika snapped.

"Hey! Tom got along very well with her coworkers. If they want to let it slip about what she's up to, so be it."

"Guys, what happened?" she cut them off, growing worried.

"She happened to get into the middle of a Russian civil war," she could see Em trying to wave it off.

"There was a Decepticon there, Em. It was more than a Russian civil war," Erika corrected.

"And I bet you're gonna say she was there with the Autobot?" Em laughed.

"Yes, I am! How else did she get away so fast?"

"Well, I can't say nay or yay cause I don't get those details. Is that why you were calling, Scotty?"

"Actually, that was the first I've heard of it. I'm in the middle of a huge photo shoot right now."

"Oh, did something go wrong?" Erika sounded worried now. "Please tell me Jill did not break an ankle again. She only has two."

"No, no! Nothing like that. Charles…." What did she say now?

"Oh, no!"

"He didn't leave, did he?"

"NO! He asked me to marry him!"

Silence…..

"WHAT?"

"When?"

"Where?"

"What did you say?"

"How big is the ring?"

"Guys, freeze!" she laughed. They fell silent. "He asked me to marry him right before the photo shoot started and I said yes. The ring isn't very big, but its perfect."

"You have to send pictures!"

"To us first, papers second."

The girls spent the next hour discussing the wedding. It felt like old times and she never wanted it to end.


	18. Return on the Dark Ages

_***Carolyn***_

She made her way down the hall, heading for the bathroom with her heels in hand when she noticed Will's door was closed. She glanced over her shoulder, hearing the sounds of laughter from the playroom. Will rarely closed his door. She stopped and quickly knocked on the door before checking her watch. She had time to kill, Ragi wasn't going to be ready for another hour or so. A muffled "Come in" resonated from within and she carefully opened the door. It looked like Will had just sat up and maybe woke up. His normally well mannered hair was a mess, kinda a long for his norm. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, head in his hands. She leaned against the door jam, frowning as she took in the room. It was a mess, clothes thrown everywhere. His desk was a mess of paper and pens and whatever else was on it. This was not good.

"Hey, Will," she spoke softly, crossing her arms. "What cha doin'?"

"Just getting up," he rubbed his face before looking up at her. Yup, he'd been crying again. She sighed, moving to sit by him. A little over two months ago, Sarah had gone missing. Her….body had been found in northern China a month ago and the shard she had been guarding was missing. Extra guards had been sent to help the current guardians and extra patrols and scans had been added to the regular work day. Will….on the outside, in public he was dealing well with it, but she knew better. He was drinking again and rarely slept. He tried to hide it from the men and Annabelle, but Optimus had said the Autobots had noticed. "What's with the get up?"

She looked down at herself. She was wearing a red strapless dress that hugged her curves a little tightly and angled to the left from mid-thigh to just below her knee. Her shard was dangling around her neck and she had earrings to match in the bathroom. She was carrying of red strappy heels to be put on later, "I have that party tonight. Ya know, the one for the peace treaty that was signed yesterday between North and South Korea?"

"Oh, yeah," he nodded, rubbing the side of his face, which she noticed was getting scruffy. "Who's going with?"

"Ragi, as usual. Prowl and Barricade will be patrolling nearby if anything happens and Optimus has the others on standby," she rested a hand on his arm. "I will be fine. Unless…you wanted to come with."

"Like you would want me to come with," Will sighed, looking down.

"William Lennox, I don't like that tone. Look, your suit is clean and hanging in the hallway closet. You have about an hour before Ragi is ready. Just let me know if you change your mind," she stood, kissing him on the top of the head. "Please shower if you do come. And shave."

"Sure," he nodded and she sighed, leaving the room. This was not good, Will could not be acting like this right now. Annabelle needed him to be strong right now. She needed him to be strong right now. Something was out there, right now, with one of the shards for the Allspark. Decepticons could be coming back to life right now and Will wasn't a hundred percent. She needed everyone ready for whatever happened. Optimus had already denied calling the guardians and having them bring in the other shards. That might just be what the Decepticons were waiting for.

She made her way to her bathroom, going over her checklist for the night. Gun on the inside of her leg? Hanging on the back of her bedroom door. Knife down her bra? Check. Purse packed? Check. Earrings? No. Make-up? No. Shoes? Needed to be put on. Her friends would think she was weird if they saw or even heard this. She quickly put on make-up and slipped on her shoes, added three inches to her original height. She grabbed the earrings and headed back into the hall, making for her room to grab her purse. She side stepped around Will as he came out of his bathroom, clean shaven and showered, wearing nothing but a towel ,"Hey! There are children in this house!"

"You mean castle? Or fortress?" Will smirked as he headed into his room. She sighed and moved into her very spacious and grand bedroom. Yes, she had spoiled herself. She had two walk-in closets, a Jacuzzi and toilet in their own room and an office all off the main bedroom. A king-size canopy bed rested against the far wall, covered in comfy pillows and blankets. A large vanity sat kiddy-corner it and a large flat screen and game consuls sat opposite the bed. At the end of the bed was a sofa, ready for late night game or movie marathons after stressful or long missions. A mini kitchen sat in the open corner by the door, with a fridge, microwave, and sink. She grabbed her purse, well large wallet, from the sofa and double checked it. Pistol, ammo, lipstick, id, grenade, cellphone, spare earrings. Yup, she was ready.

A knock sounded from her door and she turned to see Will shifting from foot to foot in the doorway, suit on but coat in hand. He'd even put on a tie all by himself. She smiled and moved to the door, "May I help you?"

"You ready?" Will smiled a little. He hated these things, but it was getting him out of the house.

"Yes….no," she reached behind the door and grabbed her glock from the back of the door, sliding it into place in her thigh holster. She smiled evilly up at him, "Now I am."

"Is that common practice or just you?" Will let her take his arm as they moved through the house, working their way downward to the garage.

"It's common practice for me," she laughed. "I like being able to protect myself. Watch the heels, by the way. Brains stuck blades in them."

"I see why you enjoy these," Will shook his head. "You get tons of pretty, deadly gifts."

"I like being spoiled. So what if it's not a normal female's type of spoiling," she shrugged as they moved into the garage. Ragi was waiting, leaning against the Ferrari, smirking at them. Optimus was talking to Prowl and Barricade not far away. Thundercracker was nearby, testing something out for Brains.

"About time you got down here," Ragi chuckled, drawing attention to them. "We don't want to be late."

"Actually, by my watch, we are early," she smirked.

"Didn't it start like an hour ago?" Thundercracker frowned. He was new, normally up at the station.

"That means she's early," Barricade growled. "We like pissing them off."

"So, you got yourself a date?" Ragi pulled the door open, clapping Will on the back.

"It's awkward to dance with your bodyguard," she climbed into the back, thankful Ragi was so versatile.

"She has a point," Will climbed in after her.

"Prowl and Barricade with escort you to and from the location and will take up positions so they can easily get to you if needed," Optimus leaned down so he could look in as Ragi appeared behind the wheel. "I am going to assume both of you have weapons."

"I think she's lacking," Will glanced at her. "Maybe turn the dress into flamethrower or something."

"There are knives sewn on the inside," she smiled. "I wanted the purse to be the flamethrower."

"I'll take that as a yes," Optimus sighed. "No activity around the others, but you never know."

"I've got two very capable men watching me. I will be fine," she shooed Optimus away. "Let me go so I can get this over with!"

"Fine, go," Optimus stood, tapping the top of the Ferrari. "Time limit?"

"Two hours tops. If I have to, I will meet Prowl by the bathroom window," she nodded as the Ferrari revved to life.

"Like Singapore?" Will looked disgusted.

"I was thinking Paris and the delegation, but yes, like Singapore. Only it will be cleaner and I won't be nearly kidnapped by a drug trafficker," she smiled as they raced out of the garage.

"So….Athens?"

No one noticed something following one lane over as they moved onto the highway, dark optics flashing dangerously.


	19. Mommy! The Car Is Being Mean!

_***Emily***_

Getting ready for work in her home should be considered an Olympic sport. It really should be. First, you get up at 5 am, depending on if there were any late night calls or not. You go for a run, shower and get dressed for the day. You go down to the kitchen and start breakfast. Depending on the day its either cereal, French toast, donuts, or waffles. You check the weather on your computer while cooking or preparing, making sure what you have on is weather appropriate. Half way through cooking, you go and wake up Tom and Honu, getting Tom into the shower and Honu his breakfast. By this time, Ratchet and Sentinel are in the kitchen, finishing up where you left off and starting clean up on the cooking supplies, if any were used. You go downstairs into the garage and make sure Honu's kennel is clean. If not, you clean it out. You check to make sure your rain gear is still in the two vehicles parked in the garage and then go back upstairs in time to eat breakfast with Tom. After breakfast, dishes had to be cleaned and Tom's homework checked. Then, lunches were made for all, including the autobots and Honu. Honu was put into his kennel, Tom's backpack was checked one more time and then it was time to load up. Sentinel would head to work, checking recent scans from the station and running a few of his own. She and Ratchet would go drop Tom off for school and then head over to HQ for the latest updates.

Today was no different. She got in about a five mile run this morning since it was cereal for breakfast. This morning Ratchet joined her, looking around warily. He didn't talk, like most mornings and that worried her," Ratchet, what's up?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," he mumbled, sticking right by her and she noticed he flickered from time to time. She didn't mention it, but kept it in the back of her mind. If Ratchet was overly alert, so should she. She was getting paranoid by the time they got back to the apartment. She went up to her bathroom while Ratchet went into the kitchen, where Sentinel was waiting. Both looked worried. She tried to forget about it, but all through her shower and pulling on board shorts and a tank top she couldn't help but mull it over. Was something going to happen today? Had something happened and she hadn't been told yet?

She got Tom up before she went into the kitchen, trying to be normal. Tom, being his usual preteen self, noticed, "Mom, chill. Ratchet and Sentinel probably are just jumpy cause another Autobot is comin'."

"When did you get so smart?" she ruffled his hair before shoving him into the bathroom.

"Mom!"

She smiled as she made her ways down to the kitchen. Ratchet and Sentinel had the cereal and bowls set out, but were ignoring it, instead focused on the little TV on the counter, "It is still unclear what caused the explosion, but current speculation is a gas leak. And in other news."

"What happened?" she sat down, grabbing a bowl.

"Train blew up on the other side of the city," Ratchet turned to her, looking worried. "But no calls yet to rescue crews."

"Nothing?" she frowned, her hand on the cereal box. "It's not…."

"Don't know. Nothing is coming up on the scans from us or the station. Optimus said he'd be sending out Thundercracker to check it out," Sentinel growled. "I'll head over before I meet you guys at work."

"I'm thinking Tom stays with us for today, just in case," Ratchet flickered once.

"Ratchet, calm down. You flickering isn't helping," she sighed, poking at her cereal. "Could it still be one if you can't pick it up on the scans."

"Very well could be," Sentinel nodded. "Some of us are able to do it. Of course, the human technology makes it a little bit harder to hid, not impossible. The volcanoes here aren't helping either."

"Tom's gonna know," she pointed out.

"Well, he is a very smart nine-year-old," Ratchet chuckled. "He'll ignore most of it."

"Hey, Mom! Have you seen Honu?" Tom came running into the kitchen, t-shirt and shorts rumpled.

"He's on the couch," Sentinel nodded to the head that appeared in the living room. "He needs more bones."

"We'll pick some up today, Hey, Tom, how about you spend the day with me and your mom?" Ratchet pushed a bowl towards the boy as he sat.

"Sure," he shrugged, quickly filling his bowl. "As long as you guys don't spas all day."

"Why would we spas all day?" Ratchet raised an eyebrow.

"Cause you just will," Tom smiled. "I get shotgun, right?"

"No, you and Honu get your usual seats," she laughed. "We'll go out for lunch today as well.

"Well, I'm gonna head out," Sentinel stood. "Be careful and keep in touch."

"Got it," Ratchet nodded as Sentinel disappeared.

"We should get going, too," she stood, starting to clear the island. "Honu, let's go!"

The dog jumped over the couch and scooped up his bone as Tom quickly finished off his breakfast, going and sitting by the door, wagging his tail. Ratchet helped clear things up before disappearing, leaving the Tokamura's along upstairs. Tom turned to her, looking serious," You seriously need to chill, Mom. Panicking isn't helping here."

"I haven't started panicking yet," she scolded, grabbing her bag and ushering Tom and Honu down into the garage. "You'll know when I'm panicking. This right here is me on the verge of panicking."

"Right, Mom," Tom laughed, climbing into the hummer, Honu close behind. He strapped into the back while she climbed into her usual spot up in the cab. Ratchet was already there and the hummer roared to life.

"Alright, ground rules for today. Em, no crazy stunts in front of the children. Tom, no messing with anything back there. Honu, no peeing in me. Everyone clear?" Ratchet looked back at them as they pulled out of the drive. One woof and two yeses answered him. He smiled, focusing on the road. "Good. We've got the first call today. Accident out at Wakiki Beach. Speed boat ran into a yacht at the docks. Sentinel will meet us there."

"Awesome! Can we get some shaved ice afterwards?" Tom leaned forward.

"After lunch! You just had breakfast," she shook her head as he shrugged.

"I'm hungry again."

None of them noticed the tow truck parked on a side street pull out and move after them or that its lights flashed, the driver flickering a little.


	20. WAKEI! WAAKIE!

_***Erika***_

_"I dream of rain. I dream of gardens in the desert sand. I wake in vain. I dream of love as time runs through my hand. I dream of rain. I lift my gaze to empty skies above. I close my eyes. This rare perfume is the sweet intoxication of her love."_

She jerked awake as her alarm continued to blare the music right by her ear. She glared up at it, knowing it was right and she would be wrong if she stayed in bed. She had a full day ahead. She had a garden to finish prepping for winter and her convertible had to be put away. Laundry had to be put away and she needed to make sure she had enough wood for the winter. Snow was in the forecast for the next couple days and the temperature was going to be dropping, so she didn't have much time. Eva Lamere, her agent, had helped this week when she had been out, but she'd gone back to L.A. to make sure her newest movie was running smoothly. Erika had given her the power a long time ago to decide things for her and she had shown to have a knack for getting everything just right. Between her and the infamous E. A. Sparrow, you never threw a diva tantrum on the set. If you did and were lucky, you maybe got a good role in the next movie that came your way….if it came your way. E. A. Sparrow did not appreciate those who thought they were better than others and everyone learned it quickly. Many new actors and actresses got their starts in an E. A. Sparrow movie, musical or TV show cause she was like that. You just never knew and that's what people liked about the author. So, Eva was off ripping heads off while she lived in her cabin, enjoying her peace.

"Wake up! WAKE UP! WAKIE WAKIE! Wake up NOW!" the second alarm went off and she slapped the alarm, turning it off. She groaned and sat up, rubbing her eyes. Yup, it was getting chilly. Time to reset the thermostat as well. Why had she moved here? She was struggling to remember as she pulled on jeans, wool socks, long sleeved shirt and her Bears hoodie. Slipping her feet into her converses, she made her way out into the kitchen. Luna was stretched out in her chair in the living room and slowly opened her eyes as her mother started the coffee maker. She glanced at her rabbit, who just gave her a cold stare before letting her eyes slid shut. Lucky rabbit, got to sleep whenever she wanted, not like her mommy. No, her mommy had to get up and make sure everything was nice and toasty for the bunny.

She moved around the kitchen, gathering up her breakfast items, occasionally glancing outside. There was a slight frost on the ground, but her garden was covered, so it should be fine. All she had left was making sure all the plants she had moved into the garage were set. Probably pull the last of the weeds while she was at it. The convertible needed to be moved inside as well. She should have closed the cover last night before she went to bed. Oh well.

She made herself a steaming cup of coffee, mixed just the way she liked it and moved into the living room, flopping down into her chair. Luna glanced over at her again before hopping off her chair and flouncing into the kitchen. Silly rabbit.

She finished off her coffee and cleaned up her dishes while Luna ate her breakfast. Sometimes she could be such a dog. She pulled on a hat just in case and made her way outside, Luna at her heels. The rabbit followed her to the garage, where they spent the majority of the morning covering up the flowers and bushes and moving them over to one side. Then they moved the convertible into the other side of the garage. Luna took her sweet time getting out of the garage, but as soon as she saw they were going to the garden, she was off. Erika laughed, following along, sparing a glance towards her truck. She could've swore she had seen someone over there. She shrugged and set to work pulling out the last of the weeds, feeding them to a certain little bunny. Her phone started to ring as they made their way through the perennials.

"This is the Canadian Hermit. How may I help you?" she smiled brightly, sitting down against the apple tree nearby. Luna crawled into her lap, wanting to cuddle.

"Hey, Herms, this is Eva. How's it in the cold?" Eva laughed. She was a nice young girl, only a year or two older than Erika. She was her second agent since hitting the writing business. Her first had been a mean old toad who thought she knew how to write Erika's ideas better than her. Eva, on the other hand, was more into improving and enlarging Erika's ideas, finding the little things in one book to build an entire series. And, she was killer when it came to movie deals. That girl was talented, for sure. She was small, like tiny, like tinier than Em. She stood about 4'7" and weighted about 90 to 100 pounds. That was about where the smallness ended. She had a wide array of knowledge, she had a huge imagination and a big heart. Her mouth could get bigger than Erika's and she didn't have a problem standing up to big burly men who called her a fairy. She was not a coward, that was for sure.

"Not too bad yet," Erika laughed. Eva had become a good friend. To all of them, actually. Em and Scotty got along well with her and Tom had a huge crush on her. Although she didn't like to think about it, she had kinda filled the void Carolyn had left. Not completely, of course, but at least a little bit. "Getting there, though. Luna and I are just finishing up the last of the weeds and then it's off into the woods like a mighty lumberjack."

"Oh, dear. Don't kill to many poor, innocent trees today," Eva laughed. "Well, I was just calling to let you know all the casting is done. I had to hire a new actress to play Tamara. That last one I showed you, the one you really didn't like, didn't like the fact that she had to take lessons for this character. This new one is a little bit younger, but has already started classes. She was the understudy in your last play for Michele."

"Oh, I liked her. She'll do wonderfully," Erika smiled. "How about our dangerous hunter from outer space who ends up training the girl from Small Town, U.S.A?"

"Oh, the man you wanted to play him is going to play him. Accepted the offer and only wants to have dinner with the lovely author who is giving him such a wondrous opportunity," Eva sighed longingly. "Please say yes."

"Of course I will say yes! This is Ewan McGregor we are talking about! I will most certainly meet him! Is he willing to sign all the necessary paperwork?" Erika giggled.

"Signed and sealed, Madame! All he needs is a date, time and place. You are one lucky missy!"

"Oh, I know!"


	21. Little Boy Blue

_***Amanda***_

"Honey! Its time!" she turned, glancing at the open doorway as her husband rolled into the room. Charles Felton, although stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, was the tallest person she knew. He was bold, he was bright, he was strong, he was her support and he was all hers. She smiled at him as waved her hand at the room.

"I think little Kurt will love his room," she laughed as Charles took in all the blue. Deep blue walls with green vines crawling all over the place. A white crib with blue sheets and blue pillows. An oak brown dresser leaning against the wall, the mirror and wall surrounding it painted green to look like a tree. Blue flowers of every shade hanging from the ceiling or the vines. Green-blue carpeting, blue recliner in the corner, blue book shelf, blue diapers stacked away in the open closet with blue clothes hanging above them. She had been in here every day for the past month, painting every single little detail, including the huge mural on the back wall. When it was complete, it would be part jungle, part beach, part ocean, so little Kurt, when he got older, would be able to play where ever he wanted. She even had gone out and gotten some rugs to lay out as the beach, the ocean floor and the ground in the jungle. There were also lots of stuffed animals and little puppets and stickers he could put up on the mural and easily remove as many times as he wanted, without doing any damage. Yes, she was spoiling her unborn child, but she wanted him to have the best life possible. Now, that didn't mean he'd get all the money he wanted and clothes and cars and what not. No, he'd work for all of it, but would be reward in kind for the jobs done. She was going to be fair and not let money get to her son's head.

"You'd better hope he loves blue," Charles laughed. "Hon, you still have 6 months. What are you going to do till then?"

"I…I don't know," she frowned for a minute, then brightened. "There's still his bedroom!"

"Oh, dear," Charles laughed, shaking his head. "Well, I just wanted to remind you that you do have a photo shoot today."

"I was just on my way down," she smiled, taking his hand in hers. "I'm just so excited."

"I can tell. Have you started looking at vehicles yes?" Charles pulled her into his lap before heading down the hall towards the elevator.

"A few. I mean, the Camaro is certainly big enough for now, but maybe we want to get a van, just in case," she bit her lip, a little unsure.

"The Camaro is just fine. Don't worry about it," Charles, pecked her on the cheek before hitting the down button.

"But I'm the first of my friends to have a kid. I mean, Emily has Tom, but she didn't have him, she adopted him. This is gonna be new for all of us," she rested her head against his. "What if something goes wrong."

"We are going to have a beautiful baby boy who we will love forever. Nothing will ever change that. And for all you know, Carolyn could've had a kid," Charles shrugged. He used to be a Ranger and had done some training with her, but they had ended up on different squads. She knew he was doing some work for her on the side, like advertising for NEST and what not, but that was about it. She didn't mind he was in contact with her. In fact, she was happy about it. She got more info on her friend this way. He was right, though. For all either of them knew, she could have a kid hidden away for some reason. Sometimes she knew Erika's blogs were right, Carolyn was a paranoid control freak, but only sometimes. She kinda had to be, it was like required for her job.

"Yeah, I know, but we don't know for sure. I wish we did," she sighed, remembering the days when there was never a secret between the four of them.

"Hey, whatever she is doing, she has reasons for keeping us out of it. You've seen the trouble she's gotten into. What do think would happen to a child of hers or one of you? She's just protecting you," Charles brushed a strand of hair out of her face and gave her a quick kiss. "Now, shove those dark thoughts away and go be my beautiful, robust, hot wife."

"Oh, so now we're starting the fat comments," she laughed as they rolled out of the elevator. Gracie ran over, jumping into their laps and giving each a huge, wet kiss. She picked her up and stood, laughing," Why, hello to you, too!"

"And the boss lady emerges from her layer," Monica laughed from where she was sitting, waiting with the others. The models were all ready to go, the cameras were all set up. All they needed was her. She set Gracie down and crossed over to them.

"So, the baby have a nice room?" Jeff chuckled. They all found her hormone jumps to be hilarious.

"Nice nursery. Bedroom is still in the works," Charles followed along, Gracie perched in his lap.

"You do realize you have plenty of time for all that stuff, right?" Michele, the newest staff member, frowned.

"Deary, you will understand when you have your first kid. Scotty, it doesn't get easier the second or third or fourth or fifth time round," Lisa stood, giving her a hug. "Ignore them, they don't understand anything."

"Thanks, hon," she laughed, pulling away. "Alright, enough lollygagging. To work!"

"Hey, boss, Julie called in a little while ago," Marcus spoke up from his spot by the other models as the staff moved to get into place. "She said her and Nick weren't gonna make it in today. Their flight got in on time, but something damaged the rail line, so they're stuck until the wreckage is cleaned up and traffic can go back through."

"Alright. I'll call her after this and let her know it's alright. I don't want anyone getting hurt trying to come in," she nodded, grabbing her camera. None of them noticed the helicopter that flew overhead, too large for everyday use in Hollywood.


	22. Wishing She Was MIA

_***Carolyn***_

"Well, well, well! Look who decided to show their pretty faces," an overly cheery voice reached her ears over the dull roar of the hall. The hall was part of some charity center's base of operations that was owned by some diplomat or another. Politicians of every race, height and girth mingled around her, giving her the occasional fear filled glance. She knew she deserved it, she was an imposing figure. Well, not right now she was more like the hooker who turned out to be a super secret agent, but it didn't matter. They stayed away and that was alright with her…and Will didn't mind it either. He didn't feel like talking to anyone tonight, but Ragi couldn't stay at her side all night, would scare people even more, so Will was here, pretending to be her date. He was a very dashing character…when he wanted to be.

She turned slowly towards the voice and a small smile tugged at her lips as her two public cohorts sauntered over. Sam and Carly Witwicky had been together since before the destruction of Chicago. She had met Sam a handful of times and Carly once when Will was having a barbecue and Sam had to be there, no matter what the Sec Def said. Then, after Chicago, she was seeing them almost every day. Bee didn't want them out of his sight for one moment and Optimus agreed. So, they became her "assistants" when everything was finally worked out. Why she had to be the CEO was still a mystery to her, but she didn't mind. Sam and Carly had been married for a little over four years now and had a set of twins to show for it, one boy, one girl. They tended to deal with these sort of events for her or almost all public events for that matter. She got to do all the dirty work, which was fine since it was what she did best. Carly was starting to show again through her knee length silver dress. The girl should really be a model, but she enjoyed what she did now and she didn't mind taking her share of the work. There was many a night when they got together in one of their rooms and just chatted. When you were one of two girls who were constantly holed up in the Fortress, you got to know each other very well.

"Why, thank you, Sam," Will chuckled, finally smiling, and took Carly's hand, kissing it lightly. "But I'd be careful who I call pretty."

They'd only been there about ten minutes, but it had been ten minutes too much for both of them….and Ragi. He was getting anxious, one hand constantly pressed to his ear, listening to the other Autobots' chatter, a scowl constantly on his face. They made sure they were never that far from him, but sooner or later they would have to dance and neither were looking forward to getting separated from their ride.

"I wasn't talking to you, Will," Sam smirked, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "I was talking to your date here. Gosh, I swear I've seen you somewhere. Maybe Paris?"

"Okay, no cheesy pickup lines tonight," she gave a dry chuckle as she gave him a quick hug. Five years of practice made it easy to keep the laughter in. "How are you, Carly?"

"Other than cheeky husbands? Just fine," she smiled, giving Carolyn a quick hug as well. "Sam, why don't you and Will go get us drinks."

"Whatever the ladies demand," Will bowed slightly to her before leading the way towards the drinks. Both she and Carly watched them go, smiles sliding from their faces.

"How is he doing?" Carly turned to her and she frowned.

"I wasn't sure he was coming tonight till five minutes before I headed down to the garage," she glanced at Carly. "He keeps himself up during the work day pretty well, but after everyone is gone…."

"Sam was like that when Mikaela left," Carly nodded, glancing over at her. "Bee told me. Said it took a while, but he eventually got over it. It helped that he found me."

"Are you hinting at something?" she frowned, turning to Carly.

"No, I am not," Carly smirked a little. "Just be there for him. And don't die anytime soon."

"Always so positive," she shook her head. "Where would I be without you, Carly?"

"Struggling to dress like a woman every day," both of them laughed as the men returned, each carrying two drinks.

"I hope you aren't laughing about us," Sam handed a drink to Carly.

"Never, dear," she gave him a quick kiss. "Just attempting to break the boss's stone face is all."

"Oh, she can be cruel," Will smirked, handing Carolyn a glass. "Nothing new?"

"He hasn't started pacing, so I think we're good," she nodded, taking a sip from her glass.

"Who?" Sam glanced over her shoulder. "Ragi? Why?"

"Stuff," she gave him a hard stare, telling him to drop it. Sam shrugged and glanced at Will. Will shrugged and set down his glass.

"If we're gonna be here a while, we might as well dance," Will held out his hand as Sam face palmed himself and Carly giggled.

"Smooth, Lennox, smooth," she smiled, setting down her drink and taking his hand, letting him lead her out onto the floor. "Tango for two?"

"Right, that wasn't in basic training," Will chuckled, wrapping one arm around her waist.

"Well, I had a very rich friend who had to take dance classes every summer at the local country club. Somehow I got dragged along a couple times," she smiled, resting a hand on his shoulder. "I would rebel sometimes and stay in my coveralls from the shop."

"I bet that turned on the guys all the time," Will spun them around the room, going with the flow of the others on the floor.

"I wouldn't know. I tended to not be able to date the guys because my rich friend had already taken them," she shrugged.

"Well, I think I would rather be with the girl in greasy coveralls over the rich friend any day," Will smiled softly.

"Even if said rich girl would send you a truck as an "I'm sorry but we're through" gift?"

"Naw, she wouldn't get it right. Would be the wrong color or make or year. Plus, I already had a truck, a nice big one that guzzled gas faster than any other truck in a 2,000 mile radius."

"Oh, well then, I guess you'll do," she laughed. "Just don't step on my toes."

"I would never dream of it," Will spun her round before pulling her back in, holding her close.

"I thought this wasn't in basic?" she gasped, surprised as the song ended. They were somehow back by the others, on the edge of the dance floor. Neither noticed Ragi, Sam and Carly watching, all smirking.

"No, but you see, I was the one who took lessons for a course at school and just never forgot," Will leaned in close. "Am I good enough?"

"Better than the last partner I had," she could feel his breath on her skin. Why was he getting so close?

"That's what I thought," Will smiled before pulling her into a kiss. Her eyes grew wide, her body tensing. WHOA! That was not expected! The kiss was cut short as across the hall, the huge floor to ceiling windows exploded as a Decepticon entered the hall. They all turned, both her and Will breathless, as Soundwave smiled evilly down at the crowd.

"Hello, fleshlings. Tell me, where can I find a certain young lady who has something very valuable to me?" his optics scanned the room before falling on her and the smile grew. "Gotcha!"


	23. Africa All Over Again

_***Carolyn***_

"Run!" Will yelled as he grabbed her arm, racing towards Ragi. Screams filled the air as Soundwave lunged forward, coming after them. Sam and Carly dived out of the way before taking off towards another exit, where their guardian, Wheeljack, had just entered. Carolyn grabbed a knife from her bra and threw it back at Soundwave, slashing threw one of his energon hoses. He roared, falling on his side. Ragi flickered from existence as his Autobot form crashed through the window he had just been standing in front of. Will skidded to a stop next to him, keeping her behind him, "We have to get her out of here!"

"Go! Prowl and Barricade are coming. One of them will pick you up," Ragi nodded before diving forward as Soundwave lunged for her. "GO!"

She grabbed Will's arm, dragging him out the window as she stuffed her purse into his pocket, "You heard the Autobot. Run!"

"Please only be one, please only be one," Will growled as he pulled out is pistol, glancing at her shoes. "How are you running in those?"

"Practice on ice!" she dodged to the right as Ragi was throw through the wall, nearly hitting them. "Does wonders for your abs!"

"I'm coming, little fleshling!" Soundswave's hiss echoed in the darkness as Will pulled her behind a tree. "If you surrender, we'll make you a nice little cage to live in for the rest of your pathetic life."

"Will, in my purse is a grenade. Just warning," she pulled her heels off and pulled out her pistol from under her dress. "Use it if you want."

"Any other weapons you want to share?" Will quickly pulled out the grenade as the sound of clashing metal reached their ears.

"No. Wanna explain why you kissed me back there?" she looked around the tree as Prowl leapt over them, joing the fray. Barricade and Ragi were holding their own, but it seemed as though Soundwave was even stronger than the last time they had battled him.

"What? Seriously? Now?" Will pulled her away from the tree as Barricade crashed into it. They took cover behind a fountain.

"Yes, now! You guys open up best when in situations just like this. Remember Davenport?" she snatched the grenade from him as the fight drew closer.

"Yes, I remember Davenport! He went and got married after that discussion and now has three wonderful children," Will grumbled.

"One's named after me," she smiled before rolling away from Will as one of Soundwave's arms crashed down on the fountain. Will had rolled away as well and started shooting at the arm. It thrashed, jerking away.

"Okay, you know why I kissed you," Will ran to her side as she stood, grenade ready. "I don't want to lose you."

"What?" she turned to him, surprised. Will grabbed her and threw them behind a hedge as the arm came back, just missing them.

"I'm serious," he pushed himself up, looking down at her. "I don't want to lose you and know that you never knew how I felt about you. I don't care if nothing comes from this, but I wanted you to know."

"Will..."she searched his face before grabbing him and throwing them down another row of hedges as the arm crashed through the hedge they had been hiding behind. She ended up on top this time, looking down at him. "Look, Africa...it was crazy. We both were struggling..."

"I get it, you don't care. Its alright," Will's face fell. She smacked him, glaring down at him.

"Let me finish!"

"Duck!" Will rolled them over, shielding as the arm crashed down into a nearby tree. He tried to move, but a limb was lying right over them. "Shit!"

"Will, I am going to finish," she tried to push him away. "You don't need to pin me down just to get it out of me."

"We're stuck," Will tried to turn, but was completly pinned. "Tree limb. Can you get out?"

"I'll try," she wiggled a little before falling still, looking above him. "Look, Will, whatever happens, I want you to know that before Africa I didn't know what I wanted. I thought what I had was enough. After Africa...and everything else with it..." she pulled him into a kiss, a quick one but one all the same before pulling away, "And I'm gonna throw the grenade in about ten seconds, so cover your head."

Will smiled before ducking down, "So, can we say first date?"

"You call this a first date?" she threw the grenade upwards as Soundwave appeared above them and quickly buried her head in Will's shoulder.

"Well, you're the one who does most of the crazy stuff," Will held her close, both holding their breath. There was a huge explosion and a roar of pain and then the Earth shook. They both looked up to see Soundwave thrashing on the ground not far away. Will glanced down at her. "Go, I've got you covered."

"Got it," she wiggled, grabing hold of a hearby hedge and pulling hard. Will watched Soundwave, pistol aimed. She soon was free and knelt next to Will, looking around, "Where are the others?"

"I don't know, get me out," Will hissed, still watching Soundwave, who had fallen still. She lifted up the branch and he got himself free. Both stood, guns aimed at Soundwave. Will took a step forward. "Ideas?"

"We get out of here and find the others asap," she looked around, grabbing Will's arm and pulling him back. "Where did they go?"

"They are a little busy at the moment. You should've come to me when you had the chance," Soundwave slowly sat up, half his face missing and his right arm gone, lying on the ground nearby. "I'm gonna enjoy ripping you apart."

"Yeah, not gonna happen," she started shooting as she pulled Will farther back. He opened fire as Soundwave stood, swaying a little.

"You won't get away," Soundwave started forward, but froze, seeing something behind them they didn't. Some of the shots hit home and he roared in pain. His arm lashed out, throwing them away. The roar of an engine filled the air as she crashed into something hard. A quick look informed her it was what was left of the fountain. She looked up to where Soundwave had been, but he was gone. Will lay not far way, pushing himself up with his right arm, his left held tight to his body. He looked up at her, pain twisting his face, "What happened?"

"I don't know?" she tried to get up and bit back tears. She glaced over her shoulder and knew that at this moment, she hated dresses. "Umm...can I borrow your jacket?"

"Why?" Will stumbled his way over, shrugging it off. He took one look at her back and winced. "I don't know whether to laugh or call for help."

"Help me up," she slipped the jacket on carefully, wincing as the lacerations on her back complained. Will gently pulled her up, her legs shaking a little.

"I think something's coming," Will hissed, pulling her close. She looked around for their guns, but couldn't find them.

"Will? Kara?" Ragi's voice filled the air as he crashed through the hedges not too far away. Not too far away, Prowl was moving a little slower, supporting Barricade. Coming right towards them was Optimus, looking relieved. Someone smaller was running next to him.

"Ragi! Prowl! Cade! Found them!" Epps' voice filled the air, explaining the smaller figure. She relaxed, looking up at Will.

"Explains why Soundwave ran," Will nodded, leading towards the converging Autobots.

"Yeah, it does," she struggled to keep her dress up. "This is awkward."

"And painful?" Will chuckled. Ragi knelt down in front of them, looking worried.

"You are hurt," Ragi murmured as Optimus knelt on his other side, Epps moving forward.

"You guys okay?" Epps looked over the two, worried himself.

"Shoulder," Will did a one shoulder shrug. "And some bruises and cuts. Nothing too bad."

"Kara?" Prowl set Barricade down, staying by him. Barricade looked like he had taken the worst of the fight, his inner workings sounding strained.

"Barricade?" she paled, carefully moving forward before stooped, wrapping her arms tightly around her chest as her dress started to slide down. "What happened?"

"Took a hit that was ment for Prowl. Took down that building you were partying in," Barricade gasped out.

"Sideswip and Thundercracker are checking on Wheeljack and the others. They'll be coming to help us get him back," Optimus spoke up. "Are you hurt?"

"I got to know the fountain over there really well," she hiked up her dress, wincing. "Really, really well."

"Its bad. You got a pair of coveralls with you?" Will looked around at the Autobots.

"I do," Epps threw off his backpack and pulled out a pair. "I figured you'd want to kill 'cons in something other than a dress."

"Give it here and everyone turn away," she snatched them away from him, shaking a little.

"Can I?" Will started.

"Turn!"


	24. Mad Hatter Ate the Charger

_***Erika***_

"Okay, Luna, break time," she stood from among her young apple trees, stretching. It had been a long, hard day, but it was worth it. Her garden was completely ready for winter and she had enough wood stacked to get her through the winter. Luna had enlarged her stash of carrots and orange peels, so everyone was happy. Her agent was safe back in L.A. dealing with movie mayhem ,which she had a weird obsession with. So, right now everything was at peace with each other and she liked it that way.

Her happy little bunny hopped over, nibbling at her shoe. She laughed, "I agree, I think it is snack time."

Together they headed for the house, bunny right at her heels. The roar of a car reached her ears and she stopped at the edge of her garden as a black Charger pulled up. Odd, she wasn't expecting anyone today. The driver side door flew open and Eva got out, smiling brightly, "Hey there!"

"Eva?" she frowned. Not even an hour ago Eva had called asking her what she thought the age of the actor should be for the young boy who keeps showing up in the oddest of places. She knew Eva had been on set because she heard the director yelling in the background and the stunt double for her main character yelling back.

"Who else? I just wanted to make sure you were up for the book release today," Eva closed the door of the Charger, moving closer. "Remember?"

"Ah, Eva, I don't have a release for another three months," she tensed, wondering what was going on.

"My dear! We have one today! You're gonna let the world know who you are, remember?" Eva frowned.

"Eva, we agreed that I wouldn't reveal who I was till I was ready," she glared at her. Something was definitely wrong.

"But you are ready, hon!"

"Aren't you suppose to be at a movie set right now?" neither girl noticed Luna hop forward.

"What movie set?" Eva asked innocently.

"The set you called me from an hour ago," she growled. Some sort of imposter. Maybe a fangirl who got plastic surgery or something.

"Now you're being just silly. Get off of me!" Eva's voice changed as Luna attacked her leg, becoming deep, masculine. Her body flickered as Luna's teeth and claws went right through her.

"Luna!" she screamed running forward and grabbed the bunny as the fake Eva flickered again.

"I guess we'll do this the hard way," fake Eva hissed, her voice coming from the car! But it wasn't Eva's voice, it was a cold, cruel male voice. Fake Eva flickered and was gone. She stumbled back away from the Charger as it roared to life, turning towards her. It slowly transformed, becoming what she knew had to be a Decepticon. He leaned towards her, snarling, "Hand over the shard and I won't kill you…right now."

"What shard?" she continued to back away. "Who are you?"

"Sorry, where are my manners," he laughed coldly. "I'm Hammerlock. You might remember me from that little incident in Russia a few years ago. You know, where I killed all those people. In Russia. And the shard I'm looking for is somewhere on yourself. Now, hand it over and maybe I'll leave something for the Autobots to find."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she backed up into a tree, clutching Luna close as the bunny hissed.

"Oh, but I think you do," Hammerlock laughed as he moved closer. He was reaching for her when something slammed into him, throwing him away down the drive.

"I knew I smelled something nasty," a giant Autobot stood over her, his back to her as his cannons roared to life. "Never guessed it would be a Pretender."

"Ironhide," Hammerlock hissed as he stood. "I was wondering where you disappeared to. Had enough fighting with the pathetic fleshlings?"

"No, I got a new assignment," the Autobot, she assumed his name was Ironhide, blasted Hammerlock before charging forward, slamming into him. "Jazz, get her out of here!"

"Got it!" her convertible swerved to a stop next to her, the passenger door flying open. "Hop in!"

"What the hell!" she kicked the door, slamming it shut.

"Hey! That's my door you just kicked!" the convertible yelped before transforming into a kneeling Autobot. "I was trying to help you, ya know."

"Sorry! I didn't know what you were," she gasped. When had her convertible become an Autobot?

"I'm Jazz, the assistant guardian around here. That there is Ironhide, your permanent guardian and the dude he's fighting is Hammerlock, a 'con Pretender. That explain anything?" Jazz chuckled, watching Ironhide kick the shit out of the Decepticon.

"Why are you here?" she cautiously moved closer to him, still deciding whether or not he was any safer than the other two.

"We got assigned to protect you and the shard you're carrying. You have it on you, right?" Jazz looked at her closer. "Of course you do, what am I saying? You just don't know it. That is the way she wanted it."

"She?" Erika flinched as Ironhide threw Hammerlock through a row of her older apple trees.

"The boss lady. That's all I can tell you till we get back to base. My boss, Optimus Prime? You know him right?"

"Leader of the Autobots. Of course I know about him," her brain was slowly coming back online. "I know about all of you. I did a blog series when the offical list came out after you guys went public. But...you were on the deceased list and Ironhide was added right before the Chicago attack."

"We were dead," Jazz grew grim. "The others found a way to bring us back. And I did not appreciate that blog series."

"Hey, I post the truth and my opinions. Deal with it," she shrugged as Ironhide made his way over. Hammerlock was no where in sight. "Where did he go?"

"Took off before I could rip his head off," Ironhide shrugged. "We need to go."

"As I was saying, Optimus called, said that one of the others had been attacked and it was time to head back to base. So, me or Ironhide?" Jazz stood up, crossing his arms.

"What?" she took a step back. "What do you mean?"

"Do you want to ride in me or Ironhide? We have to get you back to base. You know, keep you safe, don't let you get killed, that sort of thing," Jazz shrugged as Ironhide changed into her truck.

"Just get in," his growl came from within him as his passenger door popped open. "I don't talk as much as him."

"Hey, she has a choice!" Jazz growled as he transformed.

"I'm gonna go with Ironhide," she cautiously climbed in, Luna still clutched to her chest. The door slammed shut behind her and the truck jumped forward, tearing down the road, the convertible close behind as it raced back towards the world she had left all those years ago.


	25. Weird Things Always Happen in Hollywood

_***Amanda***_

She sat back, smiling as she watched Charles set up the models for the next shot. They were using their Camaro for this round of shots. She'd gotten the Camaro shortly after Chicago from Sam Witwicky. She'd met him when she'd transfered for a semester back during her Junior year so she could get one of her required internships done. They'd hit it off really well but they hadn't gone any farther than friendship. He'd just recently broken up with his long term girlfriend, Mikeala Banes? Anyway, he had just gotten dumped by her due to a too stressful situation. Girl didn't know what she was losing. Sam had sent the Camaro as a birthday present slash thank you for helping him through a tough time. He and Carly were getting one vehicle to share and he didn't want the Camaro ending up with just anyone. She felt honored to have the car. She felt a special connection with the car and swore to never get rid of it.

This was the last shot of the day, so another half hour and everyone would be clearing out. Which ment that she and Charles would be getting ready to head to Hawaii to spend a week with Em and Tom and meet her driver's new roommate. Ray was her driver, letting her play doctor longer. They'd paired up after Chicago. She always joked with Em that she had a thing for Ray. Somedays she knew she was right. The new roommate was some guy named Sammy something. He drove a fire truck and shared the apartment with Ray that was right next to Em's. He sounded interesting to say the least.

"Okay, hon, all set," Charles rolled over to her, nodding to the camera. "Work your magic."

Half way through the shoot, Gracie started barking. They tried to ignore it, but when she kept barking for close to five minutes, it was enough.

"Gracie! Mommy is working," she rounded on the dog, who was standing not too far away, barking at the floor to ceiling window behind them. She glanced at her, whimpering a little as she backed up towards her. Everyone fell silent as the sound of a helicopter drew a little too close.

"Car accident near by?" Charles moved closer to her, frowning as the sound of chopper blades steadily drew closer.

"We would've heard it," she moved closer to him just as a giant chopper dodged down into the street and crashed through the window, transforming into a robot in seconds.

"Give me the shard!" it roared as Gracie yelped, hiding behind her. The girls screamed, making for the backdoor. Something roared behind her and a yellow blur jumped over them, crashing into the robot, sending them back out into the street. Charles grabbed her around the waist, pulling her into his lap.

"Gracie, get over here!" he yelled to the dog as he pushed them back towards the front door. The dog whimpered before jumping into her lap. Charles grunted something and sent them out the door, heading away from the fight.

"Wait! What about everyone else?" she tried to get up, but Charles stopped, holding her in place.

"They will be fine. Marcus and Lisa will get them to safety. I need to get you away," Charles glanced over his shoulder, throwing her and Gracie away as the robot chopper thing slammed into the ground nearby. He pulled a gun from under him and opened fire, keeping between her and the robot as it got up.

"Give me the shard, fleshling," the robot hissed, aiming a giant cannon at Charles.

"Not in a million years, Blackout," Charles hissed, still firing. She just sat there, on someone's front yard, stunned. Her husband was battling a giant robot! When had this been made possible? Was he channeling some X-men powers right now?

"Have it your way," the robot was about to fire when a purple, smaller robot slammed into him, throwing him back towards the yellow one as it fired. The giant robot was about to attack when a dull red robot appeared, blasting it into a house. The robot roared before transforming back into the chopper and took off, quickly racing away. The other robots watched it go before turning to them.

"You guys alright?" the yellow raced over, kneeling down by Charles.

"Probably some bruises," Charles glanced at her as he slipped the gun back underneath him. "You alright, babe?"

"You...you...you," she held Gracie close, trying to collect her thoughts. "You...you just ...just fought...a robot!"

"A Decepticon, dear," Charles chuckled, rolling over and easily pulling her up into his lap.

"But...why?" she huddled close to him.

"You have something they want. I can't tell you what, its against my orders, but you will find out. Right now, we need to get out of here before Blackout comes back with help," Charles rolled over to the yellow robot, no Autobot, as it changed into her Camaro.

"Wait! When could it do that?" she gasped.

"As long as Bee has existed,"Charles set her inside the car. "Hon, I know there are a lot of questions you will have but I can't answer them right now. All that matters is I love you no matter what happens and you have to trust me. Can you do that?"

"Yes, I can. Just you will have a lot of explaining to do when you can," she nodded, looking as the two other Autobots changed into a motorcycle and a Porsche. For some reason, she wasn't too bothered by the transforming cars. Well, she had always been fascinated with strange and unusual things. "Where are we going now?"

"To the one place we will be safe. We're going to Chicago," Charles rolled around to the driver side and lifted himself in.

"Chicago?" she thought for a moment before looking at Charles. "NEST!"


	26. Devastator, Detention, World Diasater

_***Emily***_

Emily had this weird thing that went on in her gut. She knew things, sensed things, before they would happen. Like when Carolyn was at her Cross Country meet and the rest of the them were hanging at Erika's and she knew that something had happened to Carolyn. Erika and Amanda had laughed at her, saying Carolyn was the best runner in the world. Then the phone had rung and it was Carolyn's dad saying that she'd popped her kneecap out of place and needed surgery. Okay, so that was bad, like really bad. Sometimes she sensed good things, like when Amanda got engaged and she just knew that things were gonna be good. Then Amanda had called and she, Em, and Erika had had a three way screeching match. Carolyn called it her sixth sense, Erika called it her connection to the other world and Amanda had called it her mutation and then gone on for hours how pretty soon Charles Xavier was gonna show up at her door and whisk her away to mutant school and Amanda would have to visit so she and Kurt could date.

Ratchet called it something else. Instincts. And he listened to them when she got one. She was normally close to the truth with them. So when he noticed the shift in her position in her seat as they headed through the city, he started running scans," Something up?"

"When did they start construction here?" Em frowned, looking over the massive construction sight they were driving past. Sentinel was on his way back to them, having updated them on the situation. No one had been hurt, like nothing really serious had happened. A train that had just been put up for scrap had exploded for no reason. It had been used to haul passengers all over the island, but a faster and sleeker version had been recently set up and taken over the line. There was no reason it should have gone up in flames, but it had.

"Ah..." Ratchet immediately started searching the Internet. What he found worried him. The construction site shouldn't be there. It should be a couple streets over. "Its on the wrong street…"

"Hey, Mom!" Tom poked his head up front, looking worried. "The tow truck winked at me!"

The winking tow truck was the last straw for Ratchet. He floored it as the tow truck, a few dump trucks, the crane and a generator all shuddered and started to fuse together.

"Ratchet, head to the docks!" Sentinel roared, appearing ahead of them as he skidded around the corner. Something raced over them and Thunderclap slammed into the monster of a Decepticon, sending it crashing away from them.

"What is that?" Em gripped the armrests, her eyes huge.

"Devastator, nasty old mech. Huge ass, literally, and likes to eat whatever can fit through his mouth," Ratchet growled. Sentinel transformed as he raced by them, his blades in hand as he leapt into the air, slashing at Devastator's underbelly. Ratchet skidded around a corner, getting them out of there as fast as possible.

"Why do we need to go to the docks?" she tried to calm herself, really tried. You'd think after so many years living with two holoforms nothing would freak her out. She was wrong.

"Optimus has a cruiser waiting to get us out of here. Nest operatives are moving into the area. We'll be fine. We'll be just fine," Ratchet skidded around another corner.

"Ratchet…what's going on?" she almost afraid to ask, but she needed to know. Whatever was happening was putting her son, her dog and herself at risk.

"That shard of yours…. Megatron got one. He's back. Optimus has given the call. We're going to base," Ratchet sounded disappointed. "Seems we aren't the only ones who were attacked."

"The others who got the shards?" she felt her heart drop.

"You'll see when we get to base. I'm not allowed to tell you more," Ratchet's holoforms glanced over at her, looking sad.

"Does this mean…does this mean you're no longer our guardian?" she gulped, fearing the answer. What she got was a laugh.

"Oh, no. You can't get rid of me that easily," Ratchet smiled a little. "You either are stuck with me or Sentinel. Sentinel most of the time, probably, but I won't ever be that far away. We're family and nothing is gonna change that. Not even a mega-sized 'Con."

"Mom…. this might be a bad time, but I have detention at like 4:30 today…."

_***Carolyn***_

Optimus watched her pace and with each pass her anxiety grew. She fiddled with her hands constantly and was chewing her bottom lip. Optimus sat next to a stunned Mirage, who just stared off into space, trying to get his mind around the information that had just been given. Will… surprisingly Will seemed very happy. A smile was tugging at his lips as he looked down at the ground.

"Fuck! Someone please say something!" she spun to face them, near panic in her eyes.

"So when we…. He is?" Will jumped, looking at her. All she could do was nod, looking down. Optimus was confused. Should she not be happy Will knew? Will was obviously happy because he jumped up and pulled her into a hug.

"I always thought but I didn't want to ask," he whispered, clearly over joyed. She tried to get out of his grasp.

"You were married!"

"So? I'm not anymore and I have a son," Will didn't let go. "Its not a crime. Sarah knew that we did it and didn't mind. She was a little mad, but she knows things…. knew things."

"Will…" Carolyn looked up into his eyes then away, obviously battling something.

"What is the real problem?" Optimus frowned, filling the void.

"Well…this is really stupid, now that I think about it, but one of the girls I gave a shard to, I always gave her crap about stuff like this," there was a ghost of a smile on her lips now. "She's gonna flip."

"Well, do you think before or after Mirage comes back to us?" Will turned to the other mech. Mirage had still not moved.

"Ragi?" Carolyn moved forward a little, reaching out to the red mech. Her gentle touch made him flinch and he looked down at her, blinking a little.

"Yes?"

"Are you alright?"

"I am just…surprised is all," Ragi whispered.

"Will you alright?"

"Of course. I just need to process all this. Give me some time. "

"Ok…now, back to the real problem."

"Oh…." Will and Mirage both looked down and Optimus chuckled.

"All the shards are reroute to base. Autobots are ready to escort once they get closer. Everything is ready."

"Now all we really have to worry about is Megatron," she sighed and stared deeper into the base. "This is gonna be one hell of a fight."

**Thanks to everyone who is still with me. I know its been forever since I've posted, but a lot has been happening in my life, the majority good. New living space, new lifestyle, more freedom. The only problem is my ability to post is a wee bit limited, but there will be updates. Now, this one is going to take a little bit of break, like a few days, while I prepare part two for its unveiling. Here's a little preview.**

"_**Carolyn!" Erika yelled, racing out from behind the rock and into the cold wind and blowing snow where red was mixing in with the white and grey around them. Emily and Amanda were right behind her.**_

"_**Get back!" Carolyn gasped out as she tried to get up, her shoulder ripped to shreds. Something slammed into Erika, throwing her near Carolyn as a pair of red eyes appeared over her.**_

"_**You are all finished, fleshlings."**_

**I feel very evil very evil right now, but that is who I am. I'm gonna work on my other stories as well, so look for updates on those over the next few days. Again, thanks to all those who stick with my craziness! And I am still looking for a title for the next part. Any suggestions?  
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